Confidence in the war on terror hits lowest level since 2006

American's confidence that the United States and its allies are winning the war on terror has fallen to its lowest level since 2006.

A national telephone survey by Rasmussen Reports, which has fended off years of criticisms of harboring a conservative bias, found just 32 percent of likely U.S. voters now believe the United States and its allies are winning the war on terror, down eight points from a month ago.

Twenty-four percent of respondents thought the insurgents were winning and 39 percent said neither side was winning.

According to the survey, most Americans believe that the situation in Afghanistan will get worse over the next six months while only 19 percent of voters expect it to get better.

With confidence in the US mission in Afghanistan at such low levels, it is no surprise that a Rasmussen Reports survey released in March found that 52 percent of Americans wanted the United States to pull its troops out of Afghanistan in a year or sooner.

Vice President Joe Biden pledged in December 2010 that US troops would begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011 and be entirely out of the country by 2014, "come hell or high water."

Rasmussen Reports surveys from July 2008 through the middle of 2009 found confidence that America and its allies were winning the war on terror was in the high 40s and low 50s.