Despite the steadily mounting US military casualty toll in Iraq, 58 percent of those questioned believe US troops should remain in Iraq "as long as necessary, even if five years."The Wall Street Journal said the survey suggested American's attitude toward Bush's Iraq police got a boost from the death of Saddam Hussein's two sons.

However, 67 percent said they believed killing or capturing the former Iraqi dictator was necessary to successfully conclude the Iraq war.

Regarding the Democrats charges that Bush made misleading claims on Iraq's uranium purchases in Africa in his State of the Union address in January, 30 percent of respondents regarded it as legitimate criticism, while 56 percent thought the Democrats were just playing politics.

On the economic front, 45 percent of Americans believe the country's financial picture will improve in the next 12 months, 16 percent think it will get worse and 34 percent said it will stay about the same.

Sixty percent believed the Bush administration should concentrate on stimulating the US economy rather than reducing the federal budget deficit.

On Bush's reelection chances next year, 45 percent of respondents said they would back Bush against 36 percent who would vote for a Democrat in the 2004 elections.

With a 56 percent approval rating at the current stage in his mandate, Bush is "about where incumbents are when they're in pretty good shape for re-election," said Republican pollster Robert Teeter, who along with Democrat pollster Peter Hart, conducts the Journal/NBC poll.