A new poll found that 81 percent of Americans believe the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction _ a measure of dissatisfaction that could weigh heavily against Republican John McCain in his presidential face-off with either Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to The Associated Press. Clinton and Obama, locked in a fierce tug-of-war for the Democratic presidential nomination, have argued that a McCain presidency would be little more than an extension of what they say are President George W. Bush's failed economic and Iraq war policies. The CBS News-New York Times poll, released Thursday found that 81 percent of Americans believe «things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track» in the United States. That is up from 69 percent a year ago, and 35 percent in early 2002. The poll comes as Americans worry the country is either headed to or in a recession. The housing and credit crisis has rocked Wall Street, driven up home foreclosures and economic worries now supersede the Iraq war as the dominant issue in the presidential race. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for registered voters and plus or minus 4 points for Democrats. It also showed Obama leading Clinton by 46 percent to 43 percent. Both Democrats have about a 5 percentage point lead over McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee. A separate Gallup poll showed Obama with a a slight lead nationally over Clinton in the Democratic presidential race, at 49 percent to 44 percent. The survey conducted April 1-3 had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
