86 % Support Job US Military is doing in Iraq, President up 5 %

President Bush's approval rating has gone from 33% to 38% this month in the latest ABC/Washington post poll.

And while he's still not over 40%, the survey finds that Republicans seem to be more supportive of Bush now, with 82 percent of all Republicans saying the president is doing a good job, as well as 78% of moderate Republicans, who had supported Bush at only a 57 percent rate in May.

By contrast, the Democrats have lost a lot of ground this month, with the death of terrorist Abu musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. The poll found that the Democrats' lead on "trust to handle Iraq" was cut in half, and that the GOP has regained the public's trust on protecting the U.S. from terrorism by a 7 percentage point margin.

56 percent or respondents see the war in Iraq as part of the war on terrorism, and 57 percent think the war on terrorism is going well overall.

"86 percent approve of the way U.S. forces are handling their jobs in Iraq; 61 percent approve strongly," wrote ABC News.

Also with regard to Iraq, 64 percent of those polled said Bush lacks a clear plan of what to do in Iraq. But 71 percent, say the Democrats also lack a clear plan.

This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone June 22-25, 2006, among a random national sample of 1,000 adults. The results have a three-point error margin.