Against the backdrop of the invasion of Iraq and the war on terrorism, an overwhelming majority of Americans say the President should get the approval of Congress before sending U.S. forces into another country or bombing terrorists, according to data collected by Gallup in May and released today. Almost 80 percent said Congressional approval should be obtained before sending U.S. forces into action and 70 percent said Congress should sign off before a bombing attack against terrorists. The finding about Congressional approval for use of American troops abroad is consistent with how most Americans felt in 1973 when former President Nixon and Congress faced off over the War Powers Act as the war in Vietnam wound down. In that year, Congress passed the act over Nixon's veto requiring congressional authorization.

On the question of bombing suspected terrorists, Democrats said by an 83 percent to 15 percent margin that congressional approval needed to be obtained, Republicans backed that view by 52 percent to 47 percent as did independents by 69 percent to 27 percent.

Gallup found some specific situations where Americans felt less strongly about the President gaining approval before acting. If the U.S. were attacked first, 53 percent said the President should be able to act unilaterally, 58 percent said he should be able to do so to rescue American citizens abroad and 50 percent said he should be able to act without Congress' approval to conduct humanitarian missions in response to natural disasters.