President Bush's stiff-arm to Democrats' demands for a military withdrawal from Iraq and his insistence on fighting the war on terror his way are bringing little joy to his critics. A poll of 1,003 adults shows an 18 percentage point surge in the number of Americans who think the Republican president is making progress in democratizing Iraq. After his five speeches rejecting calls for pulling out U.S. forces from Iraq, and in some cases defending his domestic intelligence practices, Mr. Bush's job standing in the polls -- boosted by the successful elections held in Iraq last week -- also has...