Americans say Democrats could do a better job than Republicans in dealing with the situation in Iraq, and they have growing doubts about the Republicans on the terrorism issue, a new Gallup poll finds.

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Americans, by 30 percentage points, said Republicans were best able to handle the terrorism threat in 2004, 61-23 percent, the poll said. That margin has slipped 20 percentage points, or 48-38 percent.

Among Gallup's findings:

Respondents gave Republicans a 16-point advantage, 53-38 percent, when asked which party would best be able to handle the situation in Iraq in 2004. In the new poll, Democrats lead on that issue by 9 points, or 48-37 percent.

In 2004, Democrats led Republicans 48-44 percent on the perception of which party could best handle the economy. Democrats now lead on that issue by 12 points, or 50-38 percent.

Democrats led Republicans on the health care issue in 2004 by 21 points, or 55-34 percent. That advantage has expanded to 30 points, or 59-29 percent.

Republicans hold a 7-point lead on immigration. They tie, within the margin of error, on taxes. And they lead by 4 points on moral values.

The results are based on telephone interviews with 1,006 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2007, Gallup said. It has 95 percent confidence that the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.