Politically, this ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll finds a broad call for moderation. The public says by a 30-point margin that Bush has tried harder in the last four months to "push his own agenda" in Congress than to compromise with the Democrats — and by 40 points, 68-29 percent, that in the future he should focus on compromise instead.

Much is at stake, because control of the center is so crucial in politics. As things stand now, Americans by 25 points, 57-32 percent, say the Democratic Party is more open than the Republicans to the ideas of political moderates. And by 41-20 percent they say it's a "good thing" control of the Senate has changed hands via the Jeffords defection.

Push / Compromise

	Push his agenda	Compromise with Dems.
Bush HAS done	63%	32
Bush SHOULD do	29	68

More open to the ideas of political moderates:

Republican Party	Democratic Party
32%	57

Change in Senate control:

Good for the country	Bad	No difference
41%	20	38

Split Decision

In another telling result, Americans now divide about evenly on whose leadership they prefer, Bush's (40 percent) or the Democrats' (42 percent). In April, it was Bush by a 10-point margin.

Preferred direction:
	Bush's	Democrats'
6/3/01	40%	42	Dems +2
4/22/01	46	36	Bush +10

Moderates — who account for nearly half of all Americans — prefer the Democrats' direction by a 12-point margin. And moderates by 2-1 think the Democrats are more open to their ideas.

Moreover, Americans by sizable margins express preference for the Democrats' approach over Bush's on four issues tested in this poll — the environment, energy, patients' rights and Social Security. Bush's approach is preferred, by narrower margins, on two issues, taxes and international affairs. They're even on education and the economy.

Trust more to handle:
	Bush	Democrats
Environment	35%	54	Dems +19
Energy	36	52	Dems +16
Patients' rights	37	52	Dems +15
Social Security	38	52	Dems +14
Economy	44	46	Dems +2
Education	43	43	=
International affairs	47	40	Bush +7
Tax cuts	49	42	Bush +7

These preferences are best seen in terms of thematic affinity rather than views on specific legislation, which the public tends to follow less avidly than the professionals do.

Taxing Issue

In addition to his troubles on energy and the environment, Bush gets no bounce from the $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut that's been hailed as the signal achievement of his first four months.

That marks public ambivalence on the issue. On one hand tax cuts in and of themselves are not unpopular, and Bush holds a 58 percent approval rating for handling the issue. But there's still a broad suspicion (54 percent in this poll, the most to date) that the tax cut disproportionately benefits the wealthy. And Americans by 2-1 say they'd have preferred to see the tax cut money spent on social programs instead.

Bush's difficulties holding the center seem a lesser version of Bill Clinton's eight years ago. When Clinton was seen as tacking left after winning election as a centrist, his job approval rating fell sharply, to 46 percent at the four-month point.

Bush is doing better than Clinton at four months in overall job approval, 55 percent. But Bush is down from his level in late April (63 percent), and lower than usual for a postwar first-term president at what still should be the honeymoon stage. Other than Clinton, only Gerald Ford was lower.

Views of Bush's performance are not strictly ideological; a third of Americans call him "too conservative," which is about where it's been. At the same time, his job approval rating is 73 percent among self-described conservatives, compared to 50 percent among moderates (and 42 percent among liberals).

Views of Bush "as a person," at 61 percent favorable, are now a bit more positive than his job rating. The two were about equal in April.

Material Issues

Bush wins majority approval for his work specifically on international affairs (58 percent), taxes (also 58 percent), education (57 percent) and the economy (53 percent). His ratings fall below majority approval on energy, the environment, patients' rights and Social Security.

Approve / Disapprove

	Approve	Disapprove
International affairs	58%	33
Tax cuts	58	37
Education	57	35
Economy	53	41
Social Security	46	40
Environment	41	50
Patients' rights	40	39
Energy	37	58

As noted, on one of these, energy, a majority — 58 percent — disapproves of Bush's performance. And it's a potent issue, since six in 10 think the country is heading into an energy crisis. (That number has not grown since April, however, and fewer — four in 10 — think the country's in an energy crisis now.)

Belief that an energy crisis is coming is fairly stable across regions, although Westerners are somewhat more apt (at 46 percent) to think a crisis is here now. Bush's disapproval rating on energy is highest in the West, at 68 percent, but it reaches majority disapproval in all regions.

Bush's overall job approval rating also dips in the West, to 44 percent, though it's not much lower (49 percent) in the East. It's a good bit higher in the Midwest and South.

Bush's handling of energy policy:
	West	Midwest	East	South
Approve	28%	35	41	41
Disapprove	68	59	55	52

Overal job approval:
	West	Midwest	East	South
Approve	44%	56	49	63
Disapprove	49	39	46	31

On one specific energy policy, 56 percent (and again, majorities across regions) support federal caps on the price of electricity, something Bush opposes.

On other policy choices the public continues to show a broad preference for conservation over new power production; Bush's plan has been widely portrayed as focusing more on production. Eight in 10, for example, say they "strongly" support more energy conservation and higher fuel-efficiency in cars and trucks.

In terms of production, eight in 10 also strongly support the development of more solar and wind power. But strong support falls off sharply for some of the proposals Bush has made — more oil and gas drilling (49 percent), more coal mining (33 percent) and more nuclear power (29 percent).

Support "strongly"
More fuel-efficient vehicles	81%
More solar/wind power	80
More conservation by businesses	79
More conservation by consumers	78
More oil/gas drilling	49
More coal mining	33
More nuclear plants	29

Methodology

This ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone May 31-June 3, 2001, among a random national sample of 1,004 adults. The results have a three-point error margin. Field work by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa.