Our American cousins: They're worried about the economy and Iraq (good instincts!), yet they're relatively optimistic about the next four years with Dubya at the helm, says this NYT/CBS News poll.

An excerpt:

n the eve of President Bush's second inauguration, most Americans say they do not expect the economy to improve or American troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by the time Mr. Bush leaves the White House, and many have reservations about his signature plan to overhaul Social Security, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

Seventy percent, however, said they thought Mr. Bush would succeed in changing the Social Security system. The poll found that 43 percent of respondents expect most forms of abortion to be illegal by the time Mr. Bush leaves the White House, given Mr. Bush's expected appointments to the Supreme Court.

The Times/CBS News Poll offered the kind of conflicting portrait of the nation's view of Mr. Bush that was evident throughout last year's presidential campaign. Nearly 60 percent of respondents said they were generally optimistic on the eve of Mr. Bush's swearing-in about the next four years, but clear majorities disapproved of Mr. Bush's management of the economy and the war in Iraq.

Nearly two-thirds said a second Bush term would leave the country with a larger deficit, while 47 percent said that a second Bush term would divide Americans. A majority of those surveyed said that they did not expect any improvement in health care, education, or in reducing the cost of prescription drugs for the elderly by January 2009.

Just under 80 percent, including a majority of those who said they voted for Mr. Bush in November, said it would not be possible to overhaul Social Security, cut taxes, and finance the war in Iraq without increasing the budget deficit, despite Mr. Bush's promises to the contrary.

The findings, coming after a tensely competitive election, suggest that Mr. Bush does not have broad popular support as he embarks on what the White House has signaled would be an extraordinarily ambitious second term, which in many ways will commence with Mr. Bush's swearing-in and speech on Thursday. That could undermine his leverage in Congress, where even some Republicans have expressed concern about major aspects of Mr. Bush's Social Security plans.

Here's the LA Times poll, published Jan. 19, on how Americans feel about Bush on inauguration eve:

Americans remain deeply divided over President Bush's performance and priorities as he begins his second term, a new Los Angeles Times poll has found.

Bush arrives at his second inaugural Thursday buoyed by a public preference for smaller government, continued confidence in his efforts against terrorism and support for some of his top goals — such as simplifying the tax code, limiting medical malpractice claims and proceeding with Iraq's Jan. 30 election.

But the poll also found most Americans skeptical about his call to restructure Social Security, unhappy about his handling of the Iraq war and opposed to making his first-term tax cuts permanent if they would produce further federal budget deficits, as almost all projections show they would.

On the eve of their second inaugurations, Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan and Clinton received positive job performance marks of at least 59% in Gallup polls.

But in the new Times survey, the public is split almost exactly in half on Bush's performance — a finding in line with four other national surveys released in the last week that placed his approval rating from 50% to 53%. In recent times, the Gallup Poll found that only President Nixon received such an equivocal rating at the start of a second term.

Here's the LA Times poll, published Jan. 19, on the Iraq war:

Support for the war in Iraq has continued to erode, but most Americans still are inclined to give the Bush administration some time to try to stabilize the country before it withdraws U.S. troops, the Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

The poll, conducted Saturday through Monday, found that the percentage of Americans who believed the situation in Iraq was "worth going to war over" had sunk to a new low of 39%. When the same question was asked in a similar poll in October, 44% said it had been worth going to war.

But when asked whether the United States should begin withdrawing troops after Iraq's election Jan. 30, 52% said the administration should wait to see what the new Iraqi government wanted. More than a third, 37%, said the United States should begin drawing down at least some of its troop strength.

Americans are almost evenly divided over how long U.S. forces should stay in Iraq, the poll found: 47% said they would like to see most of the troops out within a year, while 49% say they could support a longer deployment — including 37% who say the troops should remain "as long as it takes" to secure and stabilize the country.

Here's the CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll, published Jan. 18:

(CNN) -- A majority of Americans see improving military security as President Bush's only major first term achievement, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Tuesday.