As the President prepares to make his case for sending more U.S. troops to Iraq, just 31% of American voters support that strategy. A national telephone poll of 800 Likely Voters conducted by Rasmussen Reports found that 56% think that we should be reducing the number of troops in Iraq.

Both figures are up slightly from a similar survey question asked immediately after the November elections. In that earlier survey, 24% favored sending more troops while 52% wanted a reduction in strength.

Even the President’s own party is less than enthusiastic about a surge in troop strength. Fifty-three percent (53%) of the GOP faithful support that approach.

A separate survey found that a plurality of Americans now believe the terrorists are winning the War on Terror. Just 26% believe that President Bush is doing a good or an excellent job handling the situation in Iraq. Another survey found overwhelming support for the Iraq Study Group recommendation to remove almost all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by early 2008.

However, the public is growing even more skeptical about the likelihood of the combat troops coming home over the next year. Just 16% now say the withdrawal is somewhat or very likely to happen. Seventy-eight percent (78%) say it is not likely. In early December, just 53% offered that pessimistic assessment.

Forty-one percent (41%) believe Iraq is at least somewhat likely to remain allied with the United States after our nation’s soldiers leave Iraq. Fifty percent (50%) say that is not likely.

By a 5-to-1 margin (76% to 15%), American voters believe that ending the sectarian violence is not the responsibility of the U.S.

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