The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 47% of likely voters believe the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror. Twenty percent (20%) say the terrorists are winning, while 27% say neither (see video report).

Over the past several months, confidence in the War on Terror has grown to the highest levels since the President was re-elected. The 47% who say the U.S. and its allies are winning is a sharp increase from the 33% who held that view at the beginning of 2007.

The 20% of voters who believe the terrorists are winning marks the lowest level of pessimism every measured by this poll since tracking began in January 2004.

However, short-term optimism about the War has decreased over the past month. Compared to 38% last month, 33% now say the situation in Iraq will get better in the next six months. Still, this is the sixth consecutive month in which a plurality believes things are getting better in Iraq. Last July, voters believed things were getting worse by a two-to-one margin.

Long-term optimism has fallen slightly over the past month. Thirty-four percent (34%) of Likely Voters now say history will deem the U.S. mission in Iraq a success – a three-point decrease from last month. Nearly half (48%) say the mission will be considered a failure, which is a three point increase from last month. Forty percent (40%) of Likely Voters say the United States is safer today than it was before 9/11 while 43% say it is not.

Just 31% say Bush has done a good or excellent job handling the situation in Iraq. Nearly half (47%) disagree and give him a poor rating. A separate survey has consistently found that roughly six-out-of-ten Americans would like to see the troops brought home from Iraq within a year.

Men are more optimistic than women when it comes to Iraq. While over half of men (55%) say the U.S. and its allies are winning the war, just 40% of women agree. In the long-term, 41% of men think the mission will be deemed a success. Just 27% of women feel the same.

There is an even larger gap along partisan lines. Republicans, by a 73% to 8% margin, believe the U.S. and its allies are winning. Among Democrats, just 30% believe the U.S. and its allies are winning while 32% believe the terrorist have the edge. Among unaffiliated voters, 40% say the U.S. is winning, 19% say the terrorists.

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