Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush failed to rally public support with his nationally televised speech announcing plans to send more soldiers to Iraq, as most Americans say they want Congress to find a way to stop the troop increase.

A new Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll shows the public opposes Bush's decision to dispatch 21,500 additional troops by a margin of 60 percent to 36 percent. Even so, there was little appetite for directly cutting funds for the buildup of forces as a means of thwarting the president's plan.

The poll, conducted days after Bush's Jan. 10 announcement, contains little good news for the president's war policy, which is under attack from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, some of whom are exploring ways to block the latest deployment.

``Bush is not making a case for himself,'' said Susan Pinkus, the Los Angeles Times polling director. ``The public doesn't think this new strategy is going to work.''

Most Americans, however, ``are sort of pragmatic about the whole thing and trying to figure out ways to get out of this without our tail between our legs,'' said Pinkus.

The poll also shows the potential saliency of the war in the 2008 presidential elections, especially for Senator John McCain of Arizona, a frontrunner for the Republican nomination. A plurality of self-defined moderates and independents, a key McCain constituency, said his advocacy of a troop escalation even larger than the one Bush has announced makes them less likely to support him if he runs for the White House.

Record Disapproval

The poll of 1,344 adults was conducted Jan. 13 to 16 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

It showed that public support for Bush's handling of both the Iraq conflict and the broader war on international terrorist networks has hit new lows.

Some two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Bush's management of the Iraq situation, and the percentage of those who said the war hasn't been worth it also rose to a high of 62 percent. Fifty-eight percent gave negative reviews to his handling of the fight against terrorists, an 8-point increase from last month.

While about two-thirds of respondents also said all American troops should be brought home immediately or within the next year, about the same number said a premature withdrawal would turn Iraq into a haven for terrorists.

Swelling opposition to the war has driven the president's overall approval rating down to 39 percent, from 42 percent last month.

`Waiting to be Killed'

By a 51 percent to 41 percent margin, Americans want Congress to prevent Bush from sending more troops, though they are divided about how the lawmakers should exercise their authority. Just 25 percent said Congress should deny the president funding for the deployment. Twenty-six percent said the lawmakers should block Bush ``through other legislative measures.''

``Nothing's going to change'' in Iraq, so U.S. soldiers are ``just waiting to be killed,'' said Wendy Paul, a 50-year-old teacher from Hackensack, Minnesota, in a follow-up interview. ``The troops should be brought home'' now, said Paul, a Democrat. ``If it takes the funding to have that happen, then that should happen.''

Others said Congress should find some other way to oppose Bush. ``It's more democratic to do it that way,'' said Rosemary Hendrix, a 52-year-old Republican from Petaluma, California. ``Ultimately, they can't really block it anyway. Isn't the president commander in chief? He could still do it.''

Intense Opposition

A clear majority of Americans, 60 percent, said adding troops won't help U.S. and Iraqi forces defeat the insurgency. A plurality, 43 percent, said the president's plan will have no effect on the violence and instability in Iraq.

Disapproval of the administration's plan for Iraq is intense, with 60 percent of Americans objecting to a troop increase, including 51 percent who feel ``strongly'' about that opposition. Only 9 percent said they disapprove ``somewhat.''

In contrast, 53 percent of Americans said they would have preferred the approach recommended by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which includes a phased troop drawdown and engaging Iraq's neighbors, including Syria and Iran.

``I was so upset the president totally disregarded the committee's report,'' said Judy Fogt, a 65-year-old independent from Sidney, Ohio. She doubts Bush's plan will work. ``There is no resolution when there are sects divided by religion,'' said Fogt, a retired teacher. ``This has gone on hundreds of years, and it will continue.''

No Gain for Democrats

Even with the strong opposition to the war voiced in the poll Democrats may not be benefiting much. The percentage of Americans who prefer Democrats over Bush to handle the conflict, 43 percent, was almost the same as in the last poll in December.

Americans are also skeptical that any U.S. attempt to create a jobs program in Iraq, part of Bush's plan, will do much to reduce the number of young Iraqi men joining the insurgency.

Forty-three percent of respondents said they don't think the $1 billion employment plan will help, while 38 percent said it will. With the cost of the war mounting, 55 percent of Americans also said the U.S. has no moral obligation to help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq, while 39 percent said it has that duty. And the public was about evenly split over whether the Iraqi government is capable of taking over security responsibilities from the U.S. during the next 12 months.

If Congress does fund Bush's request for additional troops, 38 percent of respondents said the money should come from repealing the administration's tax cuts. Eighteen percent said it should come from cutting domestic programs, and 19 percent want to increase the deficit.

Half of Americans said they believe Bush deliberately misled Congress and the American people about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction and the country's ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Forty-four percent disagree.

Still, many Americans want to focus on the future and solving the situation in Iraq rather than investigating the administration's policies, the poll shows.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heidi Przybyla in Washington at hprzybyla@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 18, 2007 12:50 EST