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Bush Approval Rating Up Sharply

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President George W. Bush's approval rating has risen to 44 percent – his highest rating in a year – while only 51 percent now say they "disapprove” of his job performance, a new USA Today/Gallup Poll reveals.

Bush’s approval rating was as low as 31 percent in May and 37 percent as recently as Aug. 7-10.

The rating has risen largely on the strength of increased support from Republicans — 86 percent said they approve of his performance, compared with 70 percent in May.

The upswing in approval comes amid falling gas prices and a two-week drive by the president to highlight his administration's efforts to fight terrorism.

The new findings reflect "a consistent, persistent, tenacious effort to make . . . the Republican Party's ability to deal with terrorism the No. 1 issue in the campaign," political scientist Richard Eichenberg of Tufts University told USA Today.

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In the new poll, slightly more than a quarter of respondents said Iraq is their top concern going into this fall’s elections; 19 percent cited terrorism and 18 percent chose economic conditions.

But for the first time since December 2005, a majority of people did not say the war in Iraq was a mistake; the split was 49 percent to 49 percent.

Other results of the poll reported in USA Today: