That 51 percent number has risen from just 36 percent of voters believing the U.S. and it's allies were winning the WoT last July with an equal number believing the terrorists were winning in that last poll.
Rasmussen also shows that a plurality of voters, 42 percent, believe that the situation in Iraq will continue to improve, which is 5 percentage points from last week and 19 percentage points from a year ago.
These results continue a trend noted last week when 48% said the U.S. and its allies were winning versus 20% who saw the terrorists ahead. The 28-point difference was the most favorable margin recorded by Rasmussen Reports since tracking began in January 2004. The previous high was established on September 6, 2004, when 52% thought the U.S. and its allies were winning but 26% thought the terrorists were winning -- a 26-point favorable margin.
In another Rasmussen report they show how the population perceives the candidates.
That shows that 46 percent of voters perceive John McCain as a better leader while 36 percent believe Obama would make a better leader.
44 percent believe McCain's values are closest to their own, with 39 percent thin king Obama's values are closer to their own.
24 percent believe McCain is too old to be the president and 45 percent believe Obama is too inexperienced.
47 percent believe that McCain's policies will be the same as Bushes and 46 percent think that Obama offers big government solutions.
51 percent of the voters think that government spending will go up under Obama while 29 percent believe it would rise under McCain.
Both candidates receive 18 percent when the question is will government spending go down under them.
43 percent believe that taxes will rise under Obama if he is elected and 23 percent believe that taxes will go up under McCain.
Barack Obama is trusted more than John McCain on 9 out of 15 issues, including economy, energy, ethics, environment, trade agreements, Social security, healthcare, education and abortion, with 4 of those issues being within the margin of error for the survey.
McCain is trusted more on national security, Iraq and immigration.
The candidates hold equal trust on balancing the budget and taxes.
These numbers help explain why the race is close in the polls with the potential of staying close up until election day.
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