BY Richard Sisk
WASHINGTON - Americans rank President Obama's handling of the Afghan war even lower than his stewardship of the economy, new poll says.
Only 36% backed Obama's war policies, down from 48% in February, compared with his 39% rating on the economy, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll released Tuesday.
The poll attributed the loss of support for the war to the rising U.S. death toll and last week's massive document dump of classified material by WikiLeaks, which highlighted internal disputes on strategy.
Majorities have long held that going to war in Iraq was a mistake, and 43% agree the war in Afghanistan also was a mistake.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs noted that Republicans have been scoring points on Obama's plummeting ratings, but "If we were making decisions based on politics or polling, we'd get a new pollster."