UPI Poll: Bush 'poor' on veterans

WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush was seen as "poor" in providing Afghanistan and Iraq veterans healthcare, respondents to a UPI-Zogby International poll said.

Just more than half -- 50.2 percent -- of the 7,562 U.S. residents who took part in a July 13-16 Zogby interactive poll gave Bush a "poor" grade on veterans' healthcare.

The poll was done some six months after revelations that the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington had a series of problems but the public seems to remember that or know of people having issues. Thousands of military personnel have been wounded in the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, many have been maimed for life.

The poll, however, was completed before Bush received a report on veterans healthcare from former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and former Clinton administration Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

In addition to those who gave Bush the grade of "poor," another 17 percent said he was "fair" on the issue. Some 19.9 percent gave the president a grade of "good" and 4.9 rated him "excellent."

Of the subset of respondents who had armed forces service, Bush did a little better with 44.6 percent rating him "poor," 17 percent "fair," 23.2 percent "good" and 6.5 percent "excellent."

There is a 1.1 percentage-point margin of error in the poll.