he war — two-thirds predict they won't — and if the United States should set a firm timetable to remove troops.

In the days before Petraeus' appearances and President Bush's speech to the nation last week, 60% supported setting a timetable for withdrawal and sticking to it "regardless of what is going on in Iraq at the time." Now 59% do.

The findings underscore how attitudes toward the war have solidified 4½ years after the U.S.-led invasion.

POLL RESULTS: Complete results from USA TODAY/Gallup Poll  http://www.usatoday.com/news/polls/tables/live/2007-09-18-iraq-poll.htm

"In terms of public opinion, it seems like Petraeus didn't really change anyone's mind," says Christian Grose, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University who studies the impact of the war on voting behavior. "He may have bought the president some time in Washington … but not in the public's eyes."

The number of Americans who say it was a mistake to send troops to Iraq ticked up to 58% from 54% in the USA TODAY Poll a week earlier.

The results are consistent with a Pew Research Center poll taken last week. In that poll, 57% of those who heard something about Petraeus' report approved of his recommendations, but just 16% said his testimony made them more optimistic about the war.

Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told House and Senate panels that as many as 7,000 U.S. troops could be withdrawn this year. By July, he said, the additional U.S. forces deployed this year could be pulled out, leaving about 130,000 U.S. troops on duty there.

"President Bush has accepted Gen. Petraeus' recommendations to bring troops home, based on the return on success our troops have achieved in Iraq," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said when asked about the poll findings. "The plan is to continue to solidify that success and push the trend lines to steeper gains so that the Iraqis get the reconciliation and less violence they need and deserve, and so that eventually, based on conditions, even more of our troops can return home."

In the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll:

• Forty-three percent say Petraeus' plan would withdraw "the right amount" of troops; 36% say it withdraws too few; 9% says it withdraws too many. Similarly, 42% say the plan would withdraw troops at the right pace; 33% call it too slow; 12% call it too fast.

• An overwhelming majority wants more U.S. pressure for political progress in Iraq. Seven in 10 say the United States isn't doing enough to hold the Iraqi government accountable.

• Among those who support a timetable to pull out U.S. troops, 70% prefer a gradual withdrawal, 30% an immediate one. That reflects a slight shift — albeit within the survey's margin of error — toward gradual withdrawal.

• Neither Bush nor congressional Democrats get high marks as someone who can be trusted to recommend the right thing on Iraq. Congressional Democrats are trusted by 35%, Bush by 27%. More than one in four trust neither.

The partisan divide on that question is extraordinarily sharp: Just 4% of Democrats trust Bush to recommend the right thing; just 9% of Republicans trust congressional Democrats to do so. Only one in 10 Americans trust both.