Slightly more than half of Canadians support the Afghan mission and believe troops are providing critical support, suggests a poll that found less enthusiasm for the Tories' foreign policies in general.

But as the country's troops recorded a higher rate of fatalities over the past few months, support for the mission has dropped, according to the study conducted by the Innovative Research Group and commissioned by the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.

The survey, released Monday, surveyed 2,839 people across the country on Oct. 26 and Oct. 27.

Around 54 per cent of those surveyed said they support the deployment of troops to Afghanistan, with 43 per cent opposed.

But opposition to the mission has increased by seven per cent since June — and since then, 26 soldiers have been killed and dozens more wounded.

Slightly more than half of respondents — 54 per cent — said the mission is making a real difference, while 38 per cent felt troops were putting their lives at risk for no real benefit.

But on the government's management of the mission, the respondents were almost evenly split: 46 per cent disapproved and 41 per cent backed it.

The support for the mission can be measured along party lines, with 71 per cent who voted for the Conservatives backing the mission compared to 46-per-cent support from those who voted Liberal.

56 per cent don't like foreign policy direction

The survey asked Canadians to rate the government on a number of foreign policy initiatives.

While three-quarters of those polled agreed there has been a definitive shift in foreign policy since the Conservatives won the Jan. 23 election, more than half (56 per cent) said they do not agree with the direction foreign policy has been taking.

More than 40 per cent of Canadians feel Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government are doing a worse job handling foreign policy than the previous Liberal government, compared to 34 per cent who say they're doing a better job.

A large majority — 84 per cent — said they believe the Harper government is closer to the U.S. government than the Liberals had been.

But 51 per cent said the relationship is too close, with 58 per cent agreeing that "when it comes to foreign policy, the Conservative government just does whatever the Americans want them to do."

However, 34 per cent said believe the relationship is just right and four per cent think it is still too distant.

Answers aligned with voters' party preferences

Approval and disapproval on many of the issues — not just the Afghan mission — is aligned closely to which parties the respondents said they supported in the last election.

For example, 70 per cent who voted Tory approve of how Harper is handling foreign policy, compared to 82 per cent disapproval from NDP voters, followed by Bloc (72 per cent) and Liberals (69 per cent).

Among other findings in the survey:

• 44 per cent view Harper's foreign policy initiatives as political, rather than statesman-like (28 per cent).
• 36 per cent say he's handled foreign policy issues incompetently; 35 per cent say competently.
• 40 per cent disapprove of the government's approach to the recent Hezbollah/Israeli conflict, with 29 per cent approving.
• 40 per cent approve of how the government handled the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon; 36 per cent disapproved.

The survey has a margin of error of 1.84 per cent, 19 times out of 20.