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More say Iraq has reduced U.S. safety

Bush's approval rating edges up slightly after London attacks

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Acts of terror
George W. Bush
United States
Iraq

(CNN) -- The number of Americans who believe the war in Iraq has made the United States less safe from terrorism spiked sharply after last week's terror attacks in London, according to the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.

President Bush's approval rating, meanwhile, edged up slightly, according to the poll of 1,006 Americans conducted Thursday through Sunday.

The poll shows the president's approval rating rose to 49 percent -- up 3 percentage points from a poll taken June 29-30. That change was within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Just over two weeks ago, a poll taken June 24-26 showed Bush's approval rating matching his all-time low of 45 percent, first reached in a poll taken March 21-23. (Full story)

Addressing a crowd Monday at the FBI training academy in Virginia, Bush vowed that the United States and free countries around the world will not cower in the face of terrorism. (Full story)

Although the latest poll suggests Americans are still split about his leadership, the percentage of respondents who disapprove of the way he is handling his job has fallen to 48 percent from 53 percent in the June 24-26 poll and 51 percent in the June 29-30 poll.

And in the aftermath of last week's terror attacks in London that killed more than 50 people, 12 percent of those asked believe an act of terrorism is very likely in the next several weeks -- three times the percentage who said so in a poll conducted June 16-19.

Forty-three percent said an attack is somewhat likely, up from 31 percent in that June poll, and 9 percent said a terror strike in the United States is not at all likely -- half the percentage who said it was not at all likely in June.

Thirty-five percent said an attack is not too likely, compared to 45 percent in the June poll.

The proportion of respondents who said they believe the war in Iraq has made the United States less safe from terrorism jumped to 54 percent in the latest poll. That is a dramatic increase from 39 percent in the poll conducted June 29-30, a week before the London attacks.

Of the 489 people asked that specific question, 40 percent believed the Iraq war had made the United States safer -- down from 44 percent in the previous poll.

The other 517 poll respondents were asked whether the Iraq war had made the world safer. Forty percent said it had, and 52 percent said it made the world less safe.

Those two questions on Iraq in the latest poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points, two points higher than the rest of the poll questions.

Opinions had not changed much on the topic of who is winning the war on terrorism, a question asked of all 1,006 poll respondents.

Thirty-four percent said the United States and its allies are winning -- down 2 percentage points from the June 24-26 poll; 21 percent felt the terrorists are winning the war -- up 1 point from the previous poll. Both changes were within the margin of error.

Forty-four percent felt that neither side was winning, up from 41 percent in the June 24-26 poll.

The number who felt it was worth going to war dropped slightly. Forty-four percent believed it was worth it -- down from 46 percent in the June 24-26 survey. But 53 percent said it was not worth going to war, up 1 point since June 24-26. (Full story)

U.S. military officials said Monday that two U.S. Marines were killed a day earlier during combat operations west of Baghdad, raising the number of U.S. troops killed in the war to 1,753. (Full story)

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