WASHINGTON, May 13: Eight out of 10 Americans believe that their country is headed in the wrong direction, reveals a Washington Post-ABC News survey published on Tuesday.

The survey also showed that the economy had replaced the war in Iraq as the biggest issue in America.

Asked what will be the single most important issue in their choice for president in November, 36 per cent cited the economy and jobs as their top concern; 21 per cent named the Iraq war. All other issues remained in single digit, including health care and the price of oil and gasoline.

The survey gave Democrats their biggest advantage since early 1993 as the party better able to deal with the nation’s main problems. Overall, Democrats have a 21-point advantage over Republicans for winning the November elections.

But the lead narrows significantly when two main Democratic candidates –Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton – are pitched against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

In a general election matchup, Senator McCain trails Democratic front-runner Senator Obama 7 points, 44 per cent to 51 per cent. In a head-to-head competition with Senator Clinton, Mr McCain runs almost even, 46 per cent to 49 per cent.

Weighed down by the unpopular Iraq war and a faltering economy, President George W. Bush’s job performance rating slipped to a career low 31 per cent.

The survey also rejected the perception that America is not yet ready to elect an African-American. As many as 60 per cent of Democrats polled said Mr Obama is the one with the better shot at defeating Mr McCain in November.

Nearly two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said Mrs Clinton should stay in the race and 40 per cent said she should be Mr Obama’s running-mate if he becomes the Democratic nominee.

The telephone poll of 1,122 adults was conducted from May 8-11, among a random national sample of 1,122 adults.

The results from the full survey have a 3-point error margin; among the 620 leaned Democrats the margin of error was 4 point