One of the major Democratic criticisms of the President these days is his continued committment to what a lot of people believe to be an unwinnable war in Iraq. It has been suggested in other threads that the troop surge, as well as the more general decision not to disengage, are politically risky moves for Republican lawmakers.
Today, I found a public opinion poll that challenges some of these assumptions. While those surveyed had little kind to say about the President in general, their opinions on the Iraq War had a decidedly different tone:
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Originally Posted by Outside the Beltway
Public Opinion Strategies* has released a survey [PDF file here] of likely voters’ attitudes toward the Iraq War that finds that most voters think the country is going in the wrong direction (67%) and President Bush is doing a poor job (60%), and that Iraq will never be a stable democracy (60%). No real surprises there, right?
Here are some pretty interesting numbers, though, given those and other indications** that the survey isn’t biased toward President Bush:
* 57% believe “The Iraq War is a key part of the global war on terrorism.”
* 57% “support finishing the job in Iraq, that is, keeping the troops there until the Iraqi government can maintain control and provide security for its people.
* 50% want our troops should stay and “do whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country” while only 17% favor immediate withdrawal
* 56% believe “Even if they have concerns about his war policies, Americans should stand behind the President in Iraq because we are at war.”
* 53% believe “The Democrats are going too far, too fast in pressing the President to withdraw the troops from Iraq.”
I’m not quite sure what to make of these numbers, to be honest. Part of it is the expected “rally ’round the flag effect,” I suppose, although that should redound to Bush’s benefit. We know that the opposite is true: the mess in Iraq is largely responsible for driving down his job approval.
Clearly, though, a strong majority of Americans think this war is essential despite thinking it unwinnable and are uncomfortable with too much criticism of a wartime commander-in-chief even though they themselves oppose the war in question.
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The general opinion on my uber-liberal college campus is that Bush and his specifically hired Generals are the only ones who oppose a swift withdrawal from Iraq. It is reassuring, I think, that a slim majority of Americans still understand the importance of our continuing mission in Iraq, in spite of the laundry list of errors, blunders, and distortions made by the Bush administration in relation to the war.
So: while it is clearly not the case that public opinion should be used to determine wartime strategic decisions, does the committment of ordinary Americans to finishing our mission in Iraq change your perspective on either the troop surge or the decision to not withdraw?