WASHINGTON, July 27 (AFP) - Americans were divided on the decision to wage war in Iraq, a poll showed Tuesday, as the US presidential race heated up with the Democrats holding their national convention to formally name Senator John Kerry as their candidate.
Half of those surveyed believe the decision to send troops was a mistake, against 47 percent who said it was not, according to the CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll.
Most Americans believe that neither Kerry nor President George W. Bush has a clear plan for dealing with Iraq, though Bush still leads his rival on the issue, despite the growing perception that the president lied about the reasons for going to war, the poll found.
Forty-five percent said Bush has a clear plan for Iraq, but 54 percent said he does not. One third said Kerry has a clear plan, while 56 percent said he does not. Eleven percent had no opinion on whether Kerry has a plan, the poll found.
But 45 percent also said that Bush deliberately misled the United States about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction -- the worst findings for the president since pollsters first asked the question in May last year, the findings showed.
A slight majority, 52 percent, said Bush did not mislead the nation, the poll said.
Bush had presented the hunt for Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction as the main reason for invading Iraq.
But the US economy remains more important than Iraq for voters heading into the November 2 election, the survey showed.
Twenty-eight percent said the economy was the most important issue to their votes, while 23 percent said Iraq, 19 percent terrorism and 16 percent health care.
The survey was conducted July 19-21, before the Democrats began their convention, and questioned 1,005 adults. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.