Curious about what members of the military actually think about President Bush, the Iraq war, and the question of whether there should be a "surge" in troops? Then check this out: The latest annual Military Times poll of members of the military has just come out, and guess what it finds? For the first time, more respondents disapprove of Bush's handling of the Iraq war than approve of it. It also finds that a minority -- all of 38% -- think there should be more troops in Iraq than are already there. And only half think success in Iraq is likely -- down from 83 percent two years ago. More after the jump.

The Military Times poll finds that only 35 percent of respondents approve of Bush's handling of the war -- down from 63 percent two years ago -- while 42% disapprove of it.

From the Army Times' article today on the poll:

The American military -- once a staunch supporter of President Bush and the Iraq war -- has grown increasingly pessimistic about chances for victory, according to the 2006 Military Times Poll.

For the first time, more troops disapprove of the president's handling of the war than approve of it. Barely one-third of service members approve of the way the president is handling the war.

When the military was feeling most optimistic about the war -- in 2004 -- 83 percent of poll respondents thought success in Iraq was likely. This year, that number has shrunk to 50 percent.

Only 35 percent of the military members polled this year said they approve of the way President Bush is handling the war, while 42 percent said they disapproved. The president's approval rating among the military is only slightly higher than for the population as a whole. In 2004, when his popularity peaked, 63 percent of the military approved of Bush's handling of the war. While approval of the president's war leadership has slumped, his overall approval remains high among the military.

Just as telling, in this year's poll only 41 percent of the military said the U.S. should have gone to war in Iraq in the first place, down from 65 percent in 2003.

There's more. As you may have heard, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently held a photo-op sit-down with some of the troops in Iraq. By sheer coincidence, all of the assembled troops said they support an increase in troops to Iraq.

That's strikingly at odds with what this poll found, though. The poll asks the following question:

We currently have 145,000 troops in Iraq and Kuwait. How many troops do you think we should have there?

Here are the answers:

Zero: 13%

0-50,000: 7%

50,000-144,000: 6%

145,000: 13%

146,000-200,000: 22%

200,000+: 16%

No opinion/Don't know: 23%

These are worth a quick look. While it doesn't show broad support for a withdrawal, it strikingly shows that 13 percent favor a complete pull out. More tellingly, only 38% think there should be more troops there than there are now. In other words, only 38% favor a "surge."

By contrast, a total of 39 percent think there should be the same number or less than there are now.

This poll isn't a perfect gauge of how the troops in Iraq feel, but it's pretty good: A full 50 percent of respondents have done at least one tour in Iraq. Even better, the poll questioned 6,000 randomly selected active-duty members.

It'll be interesting to see what the wingnuts -- not to mention the commentators at the big news orgs -- have to say about this one.

You can see the full poll here.