WASHINGTON - Americans seem sour on the state of the union in advance of President Bush's address on the subject. A poll finds most believe the country is on the wrong track - a complete flip from five years ago.

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Most people also are not confident that Bush and the Democrats who now control Congress and share responsibility with him for running the country can work together to solve its problems, an Associated Press-AOL News poll finds.

At the same time, Americans see the president as likable, decisive and strong - but also stubborn. And only a minority think he is honest - 44 percent, down from 53 percent two years ago.

Bush delivers his State of the Union address Tuesday night, nearly two weeks after he told the nation he is sending 21,500 additional US troops to Iraq in a new effort to end violence there.

The White House says the speech will focus on a few issues, energy and health care among them, on which Bush might be able to reach agreement with Democrats, who control the House and Senate for the first time during his two-term presidency.

Two-thirds of Americans, 66 percent, think the country is on the wrong track. That's about the same as a year ago, when 65 percent thought so, the poll found.

That's a stark reversal from mid-January 2002, when 68 percent said the country was on the right track and 29 percent said it was not. Then, the nation was still coming to grips with the terrorist strikes four months earlier on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people. And, US troops Bush sent to Afghanistan had toppled the Taliban government that harbored the terrorists believed responsible.

After the US led an invasion of Iraq in March 2003, public support for the mission there began to slide as the war continued, the US death toll climbed and the violence raged on.

John Raab, 77, of Allentown, Pa., a conservative Republican, said the United States can change course "if people rally around the president and he can get this fiasco in Iraq under control."

Kerry Moore-O'Leary, a 31-year-old Democrat from Boston, said it will take new leadership.

"I really think the only time we are going to see some real changes is when we elect a new president," she said. "Even people who are moderate Republicans are going to say that we need someone who's a breath of fresh air."

Lawmakers in both political parties have promised more bipartisanship and comity since the November elections, when voters took away the reins of Congress from Bush's Republican Party.

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