The survey found that opponents of Bush's policies feel more strongly about their views today than in the past, with four in 10 Americans saying they strongly disapprove of the job Bush is doing as president, the worst showing of his presidency. Just 27 percent strongly support him.
Despite public misgivings about elements of the policy, there remains an underlying reservoir of support for the war and continued unwillingness by the public to abandon Iraqis to their fate. Despite the almost daily suicide bombings and mounting casualty rates, a majority of Americans -- 53 percent -- now say they are optimistic about the situation in Iraq, up seven points from December.
The survey found the public sharply divided over another widely publicized administration claim. Speaking to an 80-nation conference on Iraq reconstruction in Brussels last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that victory over anti-government forces will be "a death knell for terrorism as we know it" elsewhere.
Fewer than half -- 46 percent -- of those interviewed agreed that defeating the insurgents in Iraq would do much to defeat terrorism elsewhere, while 53 percent said it would have, at best, only limited impact on the broader anti-terrorism campaign. On that question, partisan divisions were striking. Seven in 10 Republicans agreed with the essence of Rice's statement, while an equal proportion of Democrats disagreed.
Throughout the survey, public dismay over the situation in Iraq alternated with more hopeful views. By a narrow margin, the public believes the United States is not making sufficient progress toward civil order in Iraq, and even more Americans, about six in 10, doubt that country will have a stable, democratic government a year from now. On the other hand, six in 10 say the elections in Iraq earlier this year brought it closer to the day that U.S. forces can be withdrawn. And overwhelming majorities believe the Iraqi people are better off now because of the war and will be better off in the future as a result of the U.S. invasion.
There were other findings suggesting that negative views of the conflict are easing somewhat. Currently, 51 percent believe that the war has contributed to the long-term stability of the Middle East, up nine points from a year ago. And the proportion who said the conflict damaged the United States' image with the rest of the world fell to 67 percent, down nine points since last June.
A total of 1,004 randomly selected adults were interviewed by telephone June 23-26 for this survey. The margin of sampling error for the overall results is plus or minus three percentage points.
Assistant polling director Claudia Deane contributed to this report.
