WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans now say the United States should have stayed out of Iraq, according to a new poll.

The CBS-New York Times poll, released Friday, found that just over half, 51 percent, said the United States should have stayed out of Iraq, while 45 percent said going to war was the right decision. Last month, people were evenly split on that question.

Sentiment on that question has slipped steadily since December, when the decision to go to war was supported by more than 2-to-1.

The presidential race remains close in the CBS-Times poll.

Democratic Sen. John Kerry held a slight lead, 49 percent to 45 percent, over President Bush in a two-way matchup. In a three-way race including independent Ralph Nader, Kerry had 45 percent, Bush 42 percent and Nader 5 percent.

Kerry's popularity has increased since his announcement in early July that he had chosen Sen. John Edwards as his running mate.

In June, 29 percent viewed Kerry favorably and 35 percent viewed him unfavorably; about one-fourth, 26 percent, were unsure. In the new poll, 36 percent saw Kerry favorably, 33 percent saw him unfavorably and 20 percent were unsure.

Edwards has been a popular choice for Kerry, though his presence on the ticket has not significantly altered the race. People viewed Edwards favorably by a 3-1 margin, while they were more likely to view Vice President Dick Cheney unfavorably.

Voters are interested in the campaign, with almost half, 47 percent, saying they are paying a lot of attention. That's twice the level of close attention at this time in the 2000 campaign.

The poll of 955 adults, including 823 registered voters, was taken June 11-15. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the full sample, 4 percentage points for voters.

© Copyright 2004 Associated Press

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