April 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush is viewed as better able to deal with the country's biggest problems than Democratic candidate John Kerry, the Washington Post said, citing a poll the newspaper conducted with ABC News.

Bush leads Kerry 48 percent to 43 percent among registered voters, and independent Ralph Nader holds 6 percent, the Post said. That reverses a lead Kerry held in March, when he led Bush 48 percent to 44 percent, the Post said.

Almost half of all Americans rank the war on terrorism or the situation in Iraq as the biggest concern, while the proportion who said the economy and jobs were the most important dropped by 10 percentage points to 26 percent, the Post reported.

A total of 1,201 adults were surveyed by telephone last Thursday through Sunday, the Post said. The margin of sampling error for the results is plus or minus 3 percentage points, the Post said.

(Washington Post 4-19)

To contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Brice in San Francisco at jbrice1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 19, 2004 22:10 EDT