http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/politics/campaign/19campaign.html?ei=5094&en=15127dfb8295571e&hp=&ex=1098158400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=wo weeks before Election Day, voters hold a sharply critical view of President Bush's record in office, but they have strong reservations about Senator John Kerry, leaving the race in a tie, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.
Mr. Bush's job approval rating is at 44 percent, a dangerously low number for an incumbent president, and one of the lowest of his tenure. A majority of voters said that they disapproved of the way Mr. Bush had managed the economy and the war in Iraq, and - echoing a refrain of Mr. Kerry's - that his tax cuts had favored the wealthy. Voters said that Mr. Kerry would do a better job of preserving Social Security, creating jobs and ending the war in Iraq.
The poll found the two candidates each drawing 46 percent of all registered voters in a head-to-head race. Among likely voters in a two-way race, Mr. Bush has 47 percent, with 46 percent for Mr. Kerry.
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Aside from the White House, the Times/CBS News poll also suggested an area of vulnerability for Republicans: Congress. Only 38 percent of the poll's respondents said they approved of the way Congress was doing its job; 46 percent of respondents said that they planned to vote for the Democratic Congressional candidate, compared with 38 percent who said they would vote Republican.
And as of now, voters have a warmer view of the Democratic Party than of the Republican Party: 52 percent said they had a favorable view of the Democrats, compared with 47 for Republicans.
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The Times/CBS News poll was taken nationwide of 1,048 Americans, including 931 registered voters. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for the entire sample and for registered voters.