Already-pessimistic Americans have grown slightly more so about our ability to defeat the terrorist threat.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 36% of say the U.S. and its allies are winning. An equal number, 36%, say the terrorists are winning. That latter figure matches the highest level ever recorded.

The current assessment matches the results found in February. Since then, there had been a slight decrease in pessimism until this month. A separate survey also uncovered an uptick in national pessimism—just 33% now believe the nation’s best days are still ahead of us.

Partisan perspectives continue to differ sharply--60% of GOP voters say the U.S. and its allies are winning while only 19% of Democrats are that optimistic.

More than twice as many Americans expect things to get worse in Iraq over the next six months (49%) than expect them to get better (23%), a slight increase in pessimism since last month. Fewer Republicans now expect things to get better (42%, a four-point drop), and more Democrats expect them to get worse (73%, a seven-point increase) over that period.

Only 27% of all voters expect that the mission in Iraq will ultimately be judged a success, with more than twice as many (56%), saying it will be considered a failure. The ratio was 29% to 53% in June. Other recent surveys have shown that most Americans want U.S. troops withdrawn from Iraq by early next year. At the same time, half want to wait for a September progress report before making any major policy changes.

Only 28% of all voters see President Bush's handling of Iraq as Good or Excellent. Twenty percent (20%) say he's doing a Fair job and 51% now say he's doing a Poor job. Those figures are little changed from a month ago.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of Republicans say Bush is doing a Good or Excellent job in Iraq while only 8% of Democrats are that generous. The percentage of Democrats who dub the President’s performance in Iraq as Poor has increased from 76% to 80%.

More than twice as many Americans expect things to get worse in Iraq over the next six months (49%) than expect them to get better (23%), a slight increase in pessimism since last month. Fewer Republicans now expect things to get better (42%, a four-point drop), and more Democrats expect them to get worse (73%, a seven-point increase) over that period.

Only 27% of all voters expect that the mission in Iraq will ultimately be judged a success, with more than twice as many (56%), saying it will be considered a failure. The ratio was 29% to 53% in June.

Forty percent (40%) say the U.S. is now safer than it was before the 9/11 attacks, the same percentage as last month. Sixty-four percent (64%) of Republicans and 23% of Democrats agree.

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