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Just in time for the presidential race to really heat up, a torrent of bad news from Washington and Wall Street is plunging Americans into the depths of economic despair, all but taunting pundits to recycle James Carville's immortal mantra, "It's the economy, stupid."

Indeed, Americans seem to be paying more attention to domestic issues as the earliest primary dates near, and the battle on Capitol Hill over the State Children's Health Insurance Program has boiled the agenda down to two main areas: health and taxes. So far, those issues appear to be working in the Democrats' favor, according to a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll.

Two-thirds of the survey's respondents predicted that the country is "likely" to be headed toward an economic recession in the next year. And if that likelihood turns into reality, a 44-percent plurality said the Democratic Party will be best equipped to provide the leadership needed to restart the nation's economic engines; one-third chose the GOP.

The Republican Party's most visible spokesman on economic issues -- President Bush -- has remained sunny and optimistic in his assessment of the nation's finances, continually touting his tax cuts as the driver of growth. The Republican presidential front-runners, for the most part, have been in agreement with him, but most Americans are not. Two-thirds told LA Times/Bloomberg pollsters that the tax cuts have not benefited them personally. Only about 20 percent said the next president should continue Bush's policy of taxing investment income at a lower rate than earned income, and 56 percent said they did not support the Bush administration's proposal to reduce corporate income taxes.

While the tax issue retains potency in the Republican Party, Americans in general do not see tax cuts as the No. 1 economic driver. When asked to choose the better of two economic agendas -- cutting taxes or spending on health care and education -- more than half chose the latter.

When it comes to the health issue, the public appears to be warming up to the idea of universal health care, which has been a strong focus of the Democratic presidential race but a subject of much derision on the GOP side. In a sign that holding on to their tax dollars is not as important to most people as insuring all Americans, six in 10 said they'd accept a rollback of some of Bush's tax cuts to help fund health care.

When presented with four scenarios for health care reform, the least popular was the nearly status quo approach supported by the Bush administration: giving tax credits to help increase affordability while keeping the current, laissez-faire system of privatized care intact. Respondents were split on that proposal, but the other three options, each of which would involve some kind of government intervention to ensure that all Americans are covered, had majorities supporting them.

Overall, respondents said they prefer the Democratic presidential candidates' ideas for improving health care over those of the Republicans by more than a 2-to-1 margin. But the poll suggests there may still be time for Republicans to play catch-up: Eleven percent said they didn't like any of the ideas set forth by the candidates so far, and 18 percent weren't sure.

The Public Pulse -- Latest Opinions At A Glance
The table below offers the latest key national numbers. Click on the number in question for poll details. (Last updated April 2)

20% Job approval rating.	28% Job approval rating.	19% Give the economy a positive rating.	20% Say country is going in right direction.

The above icons represent (left to right) Congress, President Bush, the economy and the direction of the country.

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