Americans siding with Dems against Bush
NBC/WSJ poll: Skepticism on Iraq policies reflected in 2008 candidates


WASHINGTON - As the Democrat-controlled Congress and the White House clash over an Iraq spending bill, with President Bush vowing to veto it because it contains withdrawal deadlines, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that a solid majority of Americans side with the Democrats.

In addition, a nearly equal number believe that victory in Iraq isn't possible, and about only one in eight think the war has improved in the three months since Bush called for a troop increase there.

"They don't see the surge working," says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Neil Newhouse. Instead, they are saying "we need to get out."

With those opinions, it's perhaps not surprising the poll also shows that the Democratic presidential front-runner who opposed the Iraq war from the start — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. — has gained ground on Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who voted to authorize the war and hasn't apologized for it, despite her increasingly antiwar rhetoric...