By WILL LESTER

.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Registered voters trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle military matters and the fight against terrorism but are evenly split on which party can best handle the economy, according to an Associated Press poll.

Two months before the November elections, the campaign for control of Congress is very close, the poll indicates, with the Democrats eager to keep the focus on domestic matters, even as the debate on attacking Iraq gains more attention.

Most voters say they want the Capitol and the White House to remain in different hands.

Republicans hold a 2-to-1 lead among poll respondents on handling national security and the war on terrorism. Democrats have an edge among those who say education is the top issue and a big advantage among those who say health care is the most important.

In the competition for control of Congress, 40 percent of registered voters said they would support the Democratic candidate and 40 percent the Republican. Five percent said neither and the rest didn't know or declined to answer.

By a 2-to-1 margin, people said they preferred that different parties control the White House and Congress, according to the poll conducted for the AP by ICR/International Communications Research of Media, Pa. Democrats felt that way by a 68-28 margin, while Republicans were evenly split.

"Competition is great," said Edward Allen Jr., 77, a Republican retiree who lives in rural central Georgia. "I think it's best to have different parties in control of Congress and the White House."

Democrat Jeannette Sasse, a 76-year-old resident of Plymouth, Wis. agreed.

"I feel that if the president and the Congress are all from the same party, we can get sort of a dictatorship," she said. "We should have a balance."

Political analysts are skeptical whether the public's preference for divided government has much effect on votes in individual congressional races.

Democrats have been counting on their traditional edge on domestic issues to give them an advantage this election, but the Republicans' even standing on the economy and big advantage on military matters could make that less likely.

Terrorism is the most important issue for David Houle, a 20-year-old part-time worker at Sears in southern California.

"We've got all these people trying to be copycats," said Houle, who considers himself politically an independent. "You wonder if people are safe going down the street and going to school."

On the question of which party would handle the economy the best, Democrats got the support of those who make less than $50,000 a year, while Republicans got the nod from those who make more than $75,000 a year. Whites were evenly split on which party would handle the economy best, while blacks overwhelmingly said Democrats.

Asked which issue is most important in the elections, 23 percent said the economy, 19 percent education, 18 percent health care and 17 percent fighting terrorism.

On handling security, Republicans had the advantage among all age, income and education groups.

Darrell Crum, a 52-year-old resident of Jamestown, Kan., is a Republican who thinks the war on terrorism is the top issue and favors the GOP on that issue. But he still prefers that Congress and the White House be controlled by different parties "so one can't roll over the other."

While the Bush administration has gained ground recently in public support for its stance on possibly attacking Iraq, some in the AP poll who agreed to be called back said in interviews that the reason they prefer divided government is to promote debate on such decisions.

Republican Allen said he wants the government's focus to remain on the economy and has reservations about invading Iraq. "I think we should stay away from those people over there," he said.

Democrat Kathleen Reardon, a 54-year-old employee of a defense technology firm in Casper, Wyo., said she wants a healthy debate on Iraq.

"When you're declaring war on another country," she said, "you'd better have both sides' opinions on that."