KEY POINTS:
Sixty per cent of Americans want the country to change direction after nearly seven years of President George W. Bush's rule, a new poll released yesterday shows. Only 24 per cent thought the nation was on the right track.
More than six in 10 called the war in Iraq not worth fighting, and nearly two-thirds gave the economy negative marks. About seven in 10 saw an economic recession likely over the next year.
The poll indicated that the coming battle for the White House was shaping up to be another hard-fought, highly negative and closely decided contest, The Washington Post said.
At this point, Senator Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, holds the edge in hypothetical match-ups with four of the top contenders for the Republican nomination. But her margins are far from comfortable against the two best-known Republican candidates, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Senator John McCain, The Post said.
Not one of the leading candidates in either party has a favourable rating above 51 per cent in the new poll.
