Just over 50 percent of those polled considered the military operation had been successful so far, but some 37 percent reserved judgement, categorising the US-led invasion as somewhere in between successful and unsuccessful.

Eight percent thought that the operation so far had been a failure, according to the poll, commissioned jointly by Time magazine and CNN.

Support for the war remains strong, with 70 percent of those questioned voicing their approval while 26 percent said they disapproved.

Fifty-nine percent thought the war was worth the human and other costs incurred by the United States so far.

President George W Bush's approval rating was at 62 percent, with 56 percent of respondents saying that they would vote for him if he runs in the 2004 presidential election.

Some 41 percent of respondents expressed some doubt or reservation about the president and his handling of the Iraq crisis.

The telephone poll was carried out among 1,014 people by the market research organisation Harris Interactive on March 27. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

WAR.WIRE