MADRID, April 20 (UPI) -- A poll Tuesday showed Spaniards overwhelmingly approved of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's decision to withdraw Spain's troops from Iraq.
The survey, conducted by Noxa Consulting, an independent survey group, gave Zapatero a 78 percent approval rate for the immediate troop pullout, although some disagreed with the timing.
According to the poll, obtained in advance by United Press International, 52 percent went along with the decision to bring the troops home as soon as possible, but 43 percent thought Zapateros should have waited until the June 30 deadline for the U.S. handover of power to an Iraqi government.
But the idea that Zapatero can be trusted as a man who keeps his word was supported by almost 80 percent of those surveyed.
The composition of the new socialist government of eight men and eight women -- the first gender balanced cabinet in Spain -- created a good impression with 72 percent.
Spain's new foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos starts a round of meetings Wednesday in Washington in an attempt to soothe the Bush administration's irritation with Zapatero's pullout decision, with Honduras following suit.
