WASHINGTON (AFP) - Fresh polls showed the bitter and volatile presidential race between George W. Bush and John Kerry back to a dead heat as the two candidates stepped up their war of words over Iraq.
Surveys released Thursday by the Pew Research Center and Harris Interactive had Kerry wiping out a solid lead Bush forged with a month of attacks on his Democratic rival capped by the Republican national convention.
The Pew data showed the Massachusetts senator clawing his way back from a 12-point deficit among registered voters interviewed between September 8 and 10 to a 46-46 percent tie four days later.
A Harris poll of likely voters published in the Wall Street Journal had Kerry up 48-47 percent. The twin findings were in marked contrast to previous surveys that showed Bush opening up a margin of two to 12 points.
But although Bush`s post-convention "bounce" appeared to be subsiding less than seven weeks before the November 2 election, the latest numbers still had some worrying news for Kerry.
Bush held a double-digit lead on his capacity to manage the Iraq crisis and led nearly two-to-one on combating terrorism, Pew said. If Kerry regained a six-point lead on the economy, it was still down from a 15-point margin in August.
The Pew poll also confirmed Kerry`s backing was soft. Sixty-one percent of those backing the Democrat said they were more anti-Bush than pro-Kerry, while 78 percent of the president`s supporters were positively pro-Bush.
Sixty percent of voters expected Bush to win a second four-year term, up from 44 percent in August. Even Democrats were pessimistic about Kerry`s chances: the number predicting victory for him dropped from 66 to 43 percent.
Pew said the pool of uncertain voters had increased from 21 to 25 percent since June and suggested the presidential debates expected to begin in two weeks could be crucial with 61 percent of voters planning to tune in.
While Kerry and the Democrats have vowed to refocus their campaign on the lacklustre US economy, Iraq again dominated the debate Thursday amid continuing turmoil and new criticism from the United Nations.
Bush, campaigning in Minnesota state, defended the March 2003 invasion which UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called illegal, and accused Kerry of sending dangerous "mixed signals" on the operation.
The president did not directly address Annan`s remarks but referred to the UN Security Council resolution in November 2002 warning of "serious consequences" if Iraq did not account for its weapons of mass destruction.
"I believe when bodies say something, they better mean it," Bush said, making no mention of his failure to win UN Security Council support for a second resolution explicitly authorizing the use of force.
The Republican also reiterated he would have invaded Iraq even if he knew no unconventional weapons would be found, and he assailed Kerry as a waffler who first voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq and then opposed the war.
"Mixed signals are the wrong signals to send to our troops in the field, the Iraqi people, to our allies and most of all to our enemies," Bush told a rally.
"It is critical that the president of the United States speak clearly and consistently in this time of great threat in the world and not change positions because of expediency or pressure."
Kerry traveled to Las Vegas to speak to the annual convention of the National Guard Association that Bush addressed on Tuesday. He accused the Republican of failing to tell the truth about the deterioriating situation in Iraq.
"You deserve a president who will not play politics with national security, who will not ignore his own intelligence, while living in a fantasy world of spin," the White House challenger said.
He also pointed to a New York Times story on a National Intelligence Estimate, which had been prepared for Bush in late July, and which painted a grim picture of Iraq`s future, with civil war at worst and tenuous stability at best.
"His own intelligence officials have warned him for weeks that the mission in Iraq is in serious trouble," Kerry said. "But that is the truth -- hard as it is to hear."
The Democrats unveiled a new television ad that rips Bush for failing to own up to problems in Iraq and the economy. Two Kerry support groups also released ads that call Iraq a Republican "quagmire" and urge voters to "hold them accountable."
The ads, including one showing a dejected US soldier, drew an angry statement from Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot who demanded the spot be withdrawn.
"John Kerry`s continually shifting positions on Iraq and his sinking rhetoric of a defeated America send a signal to our allies and our enemies that America is not willing to finish the job," Racicot said.