Washington ? Americans believe by a 2-to-1 margin that it’s prudent to hold off on more tax cuts, a centerpiece of President Bush’s domestic policy agenda, an Associated Press poll found.

They greet the new year more cautious about their personal spending yet somewhat optimistic their financial situation will improve.

On the international front, the poll found people wary of a war with Iraq and much more likely to view Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network as threats than Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Those anxieties were voiced by Joanne Arriola, a 62-year-old retiree from a utility company in Butte, Mont. She has seen her retirement fund reduced sharply by the troubled economy, worries about the effects of a war in Iraq and is convinced that war will return to America.

“It’s a scary new year,” she said. “My children are too old to go, but a lot of young people aren’t.

“When the war starts, it will start here, too. I think that once we’re in the war, we’re going to see something on our soil.”

Two-thirds said they were worried that war with Iraq would increase chances of a terror attack in the United States, according to the poll conducted by ICR/International Communications Research of Media, Pa.

On economics, even most Republicans said it would be better to delay tax cuts to avoid deeper budget deficits. Despite that sentiment, the White House is putting together tax cuts that could total $300 billion. The plan would feature lower taxes on shareholders’ dividends, accelerate the 2001 tax cuts for all but the wealthiest Americans and provide new depreciation breaks for businesses.

Almost half, 44 percent, said they expected their family’s financial situation to improve in the next year. That’s a more optimistic view of the future than a year ago, when a third shared that thought. The poll of 1,008 adults was taken Dec. 13-17 and has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

But if many people are expecting the economy to improve, they’re also watching their spending more carefully. In the poll, 44 percent said they were now more cautious about what they spend, while half had not changed spending habits. That’s up from 30 percent who said they were cautious about spending in spring 2000, before the nation’s economic bubble began to deflate.

Women were more likely than men, by a margin of 40 percent to 26 percent, to say they worry a great deal about the increased threat of attacks in case of war.

By a 2-to-1 margin, people said they saw bin Laden as more of a threat than Iraq and Saddam. People were more inclined to see al-Qaida as a threat by about the same 2-1 margin, no matter their age, sex, income level or race.