NEW YORK, Nov 9: Fifty per cent of registered US voters do not want President George W. Bush re-elected to a second term, and 44 per cent do, according to a Newsweek poll out on Saturday.

A month ago, the poll showed those for and against another Bush term split evenly.

Of the 1,002 voting age Americans polled November 6-7, only 14 per cent said they were very confident the United States would succeed in establishing a stable, long-term democratic government in Iraq, 36 per cent said they were somewhat confident, 26 per cent were not very confident and 21 per cent, not at all.

A majority 53 per cent thought the United States does not have a well-thought-out plan for post-war Iraq, 60 per cent said their government was spending far too much money there, 75 per cent were afraid the US would get bogged down in Iraq for many years without favourable results, and 54 per cent thought too many US troops were in Iraq and should be brought home.

Fifty-one per cent disapproved of Bush’s overall handling of Iraq. In questions of the presidential elections one year away, Bush’s lead over the contenders for the Democratic nomination decreased from a month ago.

Bush and retired General Wesley Clark were in a virtual dead heat, 45 per cent for Clark, 48 for Bush.

Former Vermont governor Howard Dean and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry each polled 45 per cent against 49 per cent for Bush. Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman trailed Bush 44 per cent to 48, and Missouri Representative Dick Gephardt trailed Bush 44 per cent to 49.—AFP