Most Americans (55%) favor a firm timetable for withdrawing all U.S. troops from Iraq within a year. That figure includes 37% who favor an immediate withdrawal and 18% who want a timetable that will complete the withdrawal in a year. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of 1,000 adults found that just 33% believe U.S. combat troops should remain in Iraq “until our mission is accomplished.”

These results come at a time when just 33% believe the President’s call for a temporary troop “surge” will succeed. Just 37% of Americans believe that the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror. Only 28% give the President good or excellent marks for handling the situation in Iraq.

While favoring a troop withdrawal now, most Americans don’t expect that to happen. However, 59% believe it is likely U.S. troops will leave Iraq during the first year of the new President’s term in office.

Senator Barack Obama (D) has recently proposed a troop withdrawal plan that would begin May 1 and have essentially all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by March 2008. Obama’s proposal is similar to a recommendation made by the Iraq Study Group—a recommendation that enjoyed strong public support. A separate survey found that most Americans favor reducing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at this time. Obama is currently running second in polling for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

Twenty-seven percent (27%) of Americans believe that terrorists will take over the Iraqi government when U.S. troops leave. Thirty-one percent (31%) disagree while 42% are not sure.