UPI Poll: Bush-on-Iraq support edges up

WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- Support among U.S. participants in a UPI-Zogby International poll for U.S. President George Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, while weak, inched up in July.

Results from a July 13-16 Zogby interactive poll showed a slight improvement from Bush's support in June and May. Still, the figures show a strong disapproval for Bush's performance on the Iraq war.

Overall this month 57.1 percent of respondents gave the president a "poor" rating on the Iraq war performance, which is relatively better than the 59.2 percent who said the same in June and equal to the 57.1 percent figure of May.

Another 18.1 percent in the current poll gave Bush a "fair" mark when that response pulled in 17.3 percent in June and 16.9 percent in May.

Bush's "good" rating totaled 18.9 percent in July, just better than last month's 18.2 percent but less than the 19.7 percent who said "good" in May.

In the "excellent" response, 5.1 percent gave that answer in July, 4.8 percent in June and 5.9 percent in May.

More than half -- 52.8 percent -- of participants said they strongly disagreed with the statement that they trust Bush when it comes to the war in Iraq. While 7.6 percent somewhat disagreed, 21.2 percent somewhat agreed and 17.1 percent strongly agreed.

The July poll collected data from 7,562 U.S. residents. There is a 1.1 percentage-point margin of error in the July poll figures.