Fully 70 percent of those polled approve of the way Bush his actions in Iraq, his highest ranking since the magazine began tracking US opinion on the issue in September.

That also marks a 17 percent jump from the percentage who approved of Bushs "policies to deal with the threat posed by Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein" when respondents were last surveyed in late January.

In addition, 53 percent of those surveyed said they approved of the way Bush was handling the economy, the highest number since May 2001, the poll showed.

Fully 63 percent agreed "that the United States was right in taking military action in Iraq when it did.

However 32 percent of respondents said that more time should have been devoted to negotiating a diplomatic solution," the poll found, on an issue which has separated Washington and London in particular from Paris and Berlin.

Though the US move into Baghdad may be behind expected schedule, "nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of those polled say they believe that the Bush administration has a 'well-thought-out plan' for using military force against Iraq," up from 49 percent in late September.

"Nearly half of Americans polled (49 percent) say they would support continuing US military action in Iraq for more than a year, if that were how long it took to disarm Iraq and remove President Saddam Hussein," the report said.

The survey was conducted March 27-28 among 1,004 adults aged 18 and older, with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

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