The Gallup poll conducted for USA Today and CNN found that 70 percent of those asked favored the war on Iraq while 27 percent opposed it. The survey was conducted Saturday and Sunday.

Critics who pointed to a shortage of US troops and stiff Iraqi resistance did not quell backing for the war, which fell only a percentage point from the poll taken a week earlier.

However, 83 percent of the 1,012 adult respondents said invading Iraq was the "right thing to do," up one point from the previous week.

In any case, the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Over the weekend, top US officials fended off criticism that they had portrayed the war as easier and quicker than it is turning out to be.

To that, 35 percent of respondents said that officials gave an accurate assessment of the war to come, while 30 percent said the administration gave a rosier picture out of conviction and 33 percent said officials deliberately gave an easier impression to gain support.

Six percent thought the war would last less than a month, while 32 percent said less than five months, 27 percent said up to six months and 14 percent said it would take a year.

WAR.WIRE