Washington ? President Bush’s emergency request for $87 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan is emerging as the link that connects public anxiety over the economy with reservations about U.S. policy in Iraq.

With polls showing that as many as three out of five Americans oppose spending so much, Democrats see an opportunity to tar Bush and Republicans as poor stewards of taxpayers’ money and poor managers of post-war Iraq.

But they’re reluctant to vote against money that would help U.S. troops, and they have yet to rally behind a plan to counter Bush’s request. “We have no choice but to finance this program,” said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., during a debate Thursday among the 10 Democratic candidates for president.

Even so, more and more Democrats suggest paying for Iraq operations by freezing further tax cuts scheduled for upper-income Americans. Others target the $20 billion earmarked for Iraq reconstruction, arguing that U.S. domestic needs are greater and that foreign allies and Iraqi oil revenues should cover that expense.

Either way, Democrats believe they have the makings of a galvanizing issue that not only raises questions about progress in Iraq but also exposes a Republican Achilles’ heel — the exploding federal budget deficit.

“The $87 billion connects the domestic policy to the foreign policy,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who worked with her Republican counterpart Ed Goeas on a bipartisan “Battleground 2004” survey, released Thursday.

The poll shows that voters have far less confidence in Republicans than Democrats for balancing the federal budget, a reversal from tradition. Under Bush, government finances have plunged from record surplus to record deficit, because of the economic downturn, tax cuts and spending on the war.

Republican strategists say Bush’s declining poll numbers are to be expected. Presidents often see their approval ratings drop during this period in their first terms as the opposition party begins to mobilize for the coming campaign.

U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division soldiers hang up a panel at a street in Mosul, Iraq. The poster Saturday called for cooperation among Iraqis to rebuild the war-torn country. Recent polls have suggested that fewer Americans are willing to cooperate with President Bush's spending plan in Iraq.