THE NEW TIME POLL has some good news for Bush:

President Bush’s approval rating has risen to 53%, according to the latest TIME poll conducted January 12 and 13. His approval rating is up 4 points from his Dec. 13-14 approval rating of 49%. The President’s approval numbers have improved across a variety of issues, including his handling of the economy (51% approve, up from 40% approve in September), his handling of the situation in Iraq (45% approve, up from 41% approval in September), and his handling of the war on terrorism (56% approve, up from 49% in September).

Numbers on Social Security reform, however, are not as good: “When asked if they favor President Bush’s plan to allow people to invest part of their social security payroll tax in stocks and bonds, 47% oppose the plan while 44% support it.” Then again, these may well be high by historical standards.

Meanwhile, Jason van Steenwyk notes a poll that hasn’t gotten much attention — an Army Times poll of the troops:

The Army Times has published the results of the latest survey of Army Times subscribers, more than 2/3rds of whom are on active duty.

Here are the highlights:

Do you approve or disapprove of the way Pres. Bush is handling the situation in Iraq?

Approve: 63%
Disapprove: 20%
No opinion: 8%
Declined to answer: 9%

Notably, Bush’s approval ratings on the war have increased substantially among this group, rising from 56% in 2003 to 63% in 2004.

Apparently, they think things are going better than the news reports would have us believe. Jason also notes that almost nobody reported this poll.

UPDATE: Matt Rustler is critical of the Army Times poll, but I suspect that it would have gotten more attention had it gone the other way.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Trent Telenko has more thoughts on the Army Times poll, and on war reporting generally.

MORE: Jason van Steenwyk responds to Rustler, noting that the survey results match a broader Annenberg study, and observes:

One can kvetch about the methodology. But there’s no getting around the yawning chasm between the way the war is perceived by those fighting it and those watching it on TV.

It does seem that way.