Friday, August 5, 2006; Posted: 7:00 a.m.(CDT)

(CNN) -- President Bush's job approval rating continues a slow climb, according to poll results released Friday, but the majority of Americans still disapprove, even as they approve of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's performance.

Fifty-nine percent of 1,047 Americans participating in the telephone poll, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN, said they disapprove of how Bush is handling his job as president. Forty percent said they approved.

The approval numbers are a jump from previous polls. In April, only 32 percent said they approved of the way Bush was handling his job, and 60 percent disapproved, and his approval numbers has been creeping upward since then.

But 62 percent of poll respondents said they disapproved of Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq -- tying May poll results for the most respondents who disapprove. Another 59 percent said they disapproved of Bush's handling of the economy.

Poll respondents were nearly evenly split, however, on Bush's handling of the current conflict in the Middle East. Forty-six percent said they disapproved, and 43 percent said they approved. Ten percent had no opinion.

Asked about Rice, 62 percent said they approved of her job performance, and 59 percent said they were "confident" or "somewhat confident" about her ability to handle the Middle East situation. The Rice questions were asked of only half the respondents, or about 524 people.