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Poll: Two-thirds see Bush term as failure

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Two-thirds of Americans see the presidency of George W. Bush as a failure, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Sunday indicates.

About 68 percent of those questioned said Bush's eight years in the White House came up short, CNN reported. The poll indicated 44 percent believed this was because of his personal shortcomings while 22 percent blamed Bush's failures on outside circumstances.

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Thirty-one percent, meanwhile, said they considered Bush's presidency a success.

The survey indicated 50 percent of Americans believe the United States could have been better off today if Al Gore had been elected president in 2000 rather than Bush, with 27 percent maintaining the country would have been worse off under Gore.

"Due to the Florida recount, Bush had the misfortune of coming into office under controversial circumstances," CNN polling director Keating Holland told the U.S. broadcaster, adding, "a lot of Americans apparently remember those circumstances and now wish things had gone a little differently."

The poll was conducted Jan. 12-15 among 1,245 respondents. The survey's sampling error was 3 percentage points for some questions and 4.5 percentage points for others.

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