As the Bush administration and the Congress compromised on a war funding bill, a CBS News/New York Times poll shows the number of Americans who say the war is going badly has reached a new high, rising 10 percent this month to 76 percent.

According to poll results released by CBS News Friday, nearly half of all respondents (47 percent) say the war is going very badly, while 29 percent say it is going badly.

Even a majority of Republicans, 52 percent, now say the war is going at least somewhat badly --a 16-point increase from the middle of April.

Nine in 10 Democrats and eight in 10 Independents agree.

The poll also found that although the Congress dropped a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq in the war funding bill, six in 10 Americans would like one.

The public also favors setting benchmarks the Iraqi government must meet as a condition for future funding of the war -- something the Congress includes in the bill.

Moreover, there is a record high number of Americans who say getting involved in Iraq in the first place was a mistake.

Only 35 percent say the United States did the right thing by invading Iraq, while 61 percent say the U.S. should have stayed out.

The poll found Americans are more pessimistic than ever about the overall direction in which the United States is headed.

Seventy-two percent, the highest number since the poll started asking the question in 1983, say the country is on the wrong track, while 24 percent say it's headed in the right direction.

U.S. President George W. Bush's job approval rating in the poll is now at 30 percent, two points above its January low.

Sixty-three percent of Americans disapprove of the president's job performance.

Congress fares only a little better, with an approval rating of 36 percent, and disapproval of 52 percent.

This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,125 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone May 18-23.

Source: Xinhua