CBS News Poll: Americans More Upbeat On Iraq But Most Still Say U.S. Should Have Stayed Out

A new CBS News/New York Times will be out at 6:30 this evening but we have an early look at some of the numbers.

The poll shows that while Americans have been pessimistic about the direction of the country in general and the state of the economy in particular, they are increasingly positive about the way things are going in Iraq.

Just seven percent say the war in Iraq is going very well but 45 percent now say it is going at least somewhat well. This marks the most positive assessment of the war since January, 2006, and a 10 point upswing since just last month. But 51 percent say the war is going at least somewhat badly. In June, just 35 percent said the war was going somewhat well while 62 percent said it was going badly.

Still, 59 percent of Americans say that the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq altogether, a number slightly up from April when 57 percent said so. Thirty six percent say that the U.S. did the right thing by going to war with Iraq.

Barack Obama's campaign has been trying to paint a possible John McCain presidency as a third Bush term and that message may be resonating with some voters, particularly on Iraq. Most (78 percent) think McCain will continue President Bush's policies in Iraq. Just 17 percent say McCain will not continue those policies.

For more on the CBS News/New York Times poll, tune in to the CBS Evening News tonight and see the full results at CBSNews.com at 6:30.