Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Americans now believe that the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror. That’s up three points from a month ago and just a point shy of the highest level of confidence measured in 2007. The Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 32% now say the terrorists are winning. That’s down from 36% in July.

Republicans, by a 58% to 19% margin, believe the U.S. and its allies are winning. Democrats, by a 43% to 24% margin, believe the terrorists are winning. Among unaffiliated voters, 38% believe the U.S. team is winning while 32% say the opposite.

A separate survey found that American voters are evenly divided as to whether they trust Republicans or Democrats more when it comes to handling the War on Terror.

Twenty-seven percent (27%) of American voters now expect things to get better in Iraq over the next six months while 47% expect them to get worse. Pessimistic as that assessment is, it reflects an improvement from a month ago while just 23% thought things would get better in Iraq. Another survey conducted in early August found a slight increase in confidence that the number who believe the troop surge is working. Half want to wait for a September progress report before making any major policy changes.

Only 26% of all voters see President Bush's handling of Iraq as Good or Excellent. Twenty-two percent (22%) say he's doing a Fair job and 51% now say he's doing a Poor job. Those figures are down slightly from a month ago.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of Republicans say Bush is doing a Good or Excellent job in Iraq while only 10% of Democrats are that generous. Fifteen percent (15%) of unaffiliated voters say the President is doing a Good or an Excellent job in Iraq.

Forty-one percent (41%) say the U.S. is now safer than it was before the 9/11 attacks, up a point over the past month. Forty-four percent (44%) disagree and say the nation is not safer.

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