Several domestic polls and the British elections on Friday show a public increasingly disturbed by the widely condemned and unecessary invasion of Iraq and seeking substantive changes in policies and administrations on both sides of the Atlantic.
In March the people of Spain ousted a government that repeatedly lied to them about justifications for invasion and support for the profoundly unpopular George W. Bush. The final straw was an attempt by the Aznar Administration to falsely lay blame for the March 11 Madrid train bombings on domestic groups rather than on Islamic militants seeking revenge for Aznar's support for Bush's premptive attack on Iraq despite the Spanish public being against it 9 to 1.
Several countries in addition to Spain have pulled their troops out of Iraq given the ongoing instability and insurgency movements inflicting almost daily casualties on foreign troops as well as Iraqi civilians seen as collaborators with the Western occupiers
Bush's poll numbers continue to slide and John Kerry is gaining even among potential voters who say they know little about the Democratic candidate. Clearly a majority of poll respondants feel they know enough about Bush to seek alternative leadership in November.
The presumed Democratic presidential nominee led Mr Bush by 51 per cent to 44 per cent nationally in a two-way match-up, according to the poll of 1,230 registered voters which was taken from Saturday to Tuesday.
The figures dropped with independent Ralph Nader in the mix. Kerry drew 48 per cent in a three-way race and Bush 42 per cent, the poll showed.
In the Los Angeles Times poll, respondents disapproved of Mr Bush’s handling of the economy and of Iraq, despite somewhat encouraging news on the economic front recently.
A total of 56 per cent of respondents said the US "needs to move in a new direction", because Mr Bush’s policies have not improved the country.
However, in an indication of the campaign’s volatility, the newspaper’s polling in three fiercely contested states shows Mr Bush with a double-digit advantage over Mr Kerry in Missouri (a state that elected a dead man over John Ashcroft in 2000), with Mr Nader included, and running even with the presumed Democratic rival in Ohio and Wisconsin.
Nationally, 55 per cent of respondents disapproved of how Mr Bush was handling Iraq, while 44 per cent approved his performance.
The new poll found only 35 per cent said Mr Bush had "offered a clear plan" to achieve success in Iraq, while 44 per cent said he had not.
On the economy, 54 per cent did not approve of the job Mr Bush was doing, while 43 per cent did, the survey showed, and 52 per cent of voters said they believed Bush's economic policies had hurt the economy, while just 22 per cent said his actions had improved it.
In the survey of 1,230 registered voters conducted across the country from Saturday through Tuesday, 53 percent said it was not worth going to war in Iraq while 43 percent said it was and 4 percent said they did not know. The sample has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Fifty-five percent of voters said they disapproved of President Bush's handling of the war, while 44 percent approved.
Meanwhile, Tony Blair's Labour Party took a beating in elections on Friday when hundreds of local Labour councilors were ousted in a backlash against Blair's support for the unpopular war. More than 460 Labor officials were voted out of local government, and Blair will have to convince party members with seats in national parliament that they will not suffer the same fate in a general election likely to take place next year.
Former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who quit Blair's cabinet in protest at his plans for war, said voters who deserted Labor over Iraq would stay away as long as Blair led the party.
Clare Short, another outspoken Labor rebel, said voters were punishing Blair because his party couldn't.
"What we did in Iraq has brought disgrace and dishonor on Britain around the world. As Tony Blair won't change the policy, the only way to make a correction is for him to step aside from the leadership," she told the Evening Standard newspaper.
The one bright spot for Labor in this week's election was the reelection of the popular "Red" Ken Livingstone as London's mayor, announced late on Friday.
Livingstone's support from voters was a dubious endorsement for Blair, since the maverick Livingstone led massive street protests against the Iraq war. Estimates put the demonstration at more than a million making it one of the largest single gatherings of protest in human history.
Blair faces more expected bad news on Sunday when delayed results for Thursday's vote for the European Parliament are released.
Opinion polls suggest fringe parties opposed to deeper integration with the European Union will do well. That may hurt the opposition. Blair has pledged to sign a new constitution for the European Union, and then lobby voters to support it in a referendum, even though most Britons disapprove of the idea.