UPI Poll: Congress worse than Bush on Iraq

WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- Respondents to a UPI-Zogby International poll give the U.S. Congress very bleak grades on its handling of the war in Iraq.

While many experts -- including the Democratic Party leadership -- said control of Congress changed hands last year because of promises to change U.S. policies on the Iraq war, U.S. residents who took part in a Zogby interactive poll shoved already sour congressional markings on the war down further.

More than three-quarters -- 75.1 percent -- said Congress' handling of the war was "poor," up substantially from the 59.5 percent who gave the same grade in June polling. Another 20.8 percent gave Congress a "poor" grade on Iraq in July, down from 34.6 percent in June.

The "positive" marks were also off in July, with 2.9 percent saying Congress' performance on Iraq was "good" and 0.2 percent saying it is "excellent." Those figures in June were 4.6 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

U.S. President George Bush's July figures on Iraq were 57.1 percent "poor," 18.1 percent "fair," 18.9 percent "good" and 5.1 percent "excellent."

Democratic respondents were tough on the Democratic-controlled Congress with 63.5 percent giving the lawmakers a "poor" grade and 30.3 percent saying "fair."

The poll was conducted July 13-16, before the U.S. Senate staged its all-night debate on the war. There is a margin of error of 1.1 percentage points in the data, compiled from responses from 7,562 U.S. residents.