Saturday, April 5, 2003
Poll: War Support Grows, Even Attack on Iran, Syria
America the beautiful is fast becoming America the bellicose, a new poll suggests.
As the nation's substantial backing of President Bush and the war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq soars, it now appears that a sizeable number of the public would even support military moves against Iran or Syria.
According to the anti-war, anti-Bush Los Angeles Times, their new poll shows a clear majority of Americans back the war in Iraq, and half those polled endorsed military action against Iran if it continues to develop nuclear weapons.
The poll disclosed that:
More than three-fourths of Americans -- including two-thirds of liberals and 70 percent of Democrats -- now say they support the decision to go to war.
More than four-fifths of these war supporters say they still will back the military action even if allied forces don't find evidence of weapons of mass destruction.
President Bush's overall job approval rating jumped to 68 percent, the highest level since last summer, and three-fourths of those polled said they trust him to make the right decisions on Iraq.
Americans are divided almost in half when it comes to having the U.S. take military action against Syria, which Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has accused of providing Iraq with military supplies. Syria has denied the accusation. But 42 percent said the United States should take action if Syria, in fact, provides aid to Iraq, while 46 percent said no.
More Americans take a hard line on Iran, which recently disclosed an advanced program to develop the enriched uranium that could be used in nuclear weapons. Exactly half said the United States should take military action against Iran if it continues to move toward nuclear-weapon development; 36 percent disagreed. Perhaps surprisingly, women are slightly more supportive of such action than men.
By a margin of 62 percent to 33 percent, those polled said the war is likely to make the world a safer place; 52 percent believe it will help stabilize the Middle East, while 21 percent believe it will seed more instability. Just under 20 percent think it's unlikely to have much effect either way.
The poll, which the Times explains took place "during a period of rapid allied gains in recent days,” revealed that Americans are largely satisfied with the pace of progress. A mere 14 percent said the war wasn't going as well as they expected, while 27 percent said it was exceeding their expectations and 56 percent said it was unfolding about as they had anticipated.
Just 6 percent of those polled said they supported the use of force before the war began but switched because of U.S. casualties; 16 percent said they had switched from opposition to support since the shooting started.
Only one-fifth said they believed the Bush administration had deliberately understated the risks of the war to rally public support. Two-fifths said it had offered an accurate preview, while one-third said the administration had honestly believed the war would unfold with less difficulty.
"I had my own reservations about [the war] ... but my feeling is at least I can trust that this president is trying to do the right thing for the country," Christopher Hart, an author in Westport, Conn., who responded to the survey told the Times. "This man fully believes in what he does and I do not believe he is doing this for any reason other than that he is convinced it is in our best interest."
The Times says its poll, supervised by polling director Susan Pinkus, surveyed 745 adults Wednesday and Thursday; it has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
True to their ultra-liberal colors, the Times couldn’t wait to add that the President’s approval rating "didn't approach the 85 percent peak reached by his father, President George H.W. Bush, in Times polls during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.”
Other negative results:
A 2-to-1 majority said that, because of the war, the country cannot afford even the stripped-down, $350-billion version of Bush's proposed tax cut that the Senate recently approved. The Times quotes David Loveland, a stockbroker in Charleston, S.C. as saying "I wish he would pay attention to the economy. It appears his focus is on a lot of different things besides the economy."
They don’t bother to quote any respondents who favored the Bush tax cut, a tactic they share with the New York Times which will travel to the Gobi Desert if they have to in order to find some liberal who agrees with their left-wing views.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Saddam Hussein/Iraq
Printer Friendly Version
Poll: War Support Grows, Even Attack on Iran, Syria
America the beautiful is fast becoming America the bellicose, a new poll suggests.
As the nation's substantial backing of President Bush and the war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq soars, it now appears that a sizeable number of the public would even support military moves against Iran or Syria.
According to the anti-war, anti-Bush Los Angeles Times, their new poll shows a clear majority of Americans back the war in Iraq, and half those polled endorsed military action against Iran if it continues to develop nuclear weapons.
The poll disclosed that:
More than three-fourths of Americans -- including two-thirds of liberals and 70 percent of Democrats -- now say they support the decision to go to war.
More than four-fifths of these war supporters say they still will back the military action even if allied forces don't find evidence of weapons of mass destruction.
President Bush's overall job approval rating jumped to 68 percent, the highest level since last summer, and three-fourths of those polled said they trust him to make the right decisions on Iraq.
Americans are divided almost in half when it comes to having the U.S. take military action against Syria, which Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has accused of providing Iraq with military supplies. Syria has denied the accusation. But 42 percent said the United States should take action if Syria, in fact, provides aid to Iraq, while 46 percent said no.
More Americans take a hard line on Iran, which recently disclosed an advanced program to develop the enriched uranium that could be used in nuclear weapons. Exactly half said the United States should take military action against Iran if it continues to move toward nuclear-weapon development; 36 percent disagreed. Perhaps surprisingly, women are slightly more supportive of such action than men.
By a margin of 62 percent to 33 percent, those polled said the war is likely to make the world a safer place; 52 percent believe it will help stabilize the Middle East, while 21 percent believe it will seed more instability. Just under 20 percent think it's unlikely to have much effect either way.
The poll, which the Times explains took place "during a period of rapid allied gains in recent days,” revealed that Americans are largely satisfied with the pace of progress. A mere 14 percent said the war wasn't going as well as they expected, while 27 percent said it was exceeding their expectations and 56 percent said it was unfolding about as they had anticipated.
Just 6 percent of those polled said they supported the use of force before the war began but switched because of U.S. casualties; 16 percent said they had switched from opposition to support since the shooting started.
Only one-fifth said they believed the Bush administration had deliberately understated the risks of the war to rally public support. Two-fifths said it had offered an accurate preview, while one-third said the administration had honestly believed the war would unfold with less difficulty.
"I had my own reservations about [the war] ... but my feeling is at least I can trust that this president is trying to do the right thing for the country," Christopher Hart, an author in Westport, Conn., who responded to the survey told the Times. "This man fully believes in what he does and I do not believe he is doing this for any reason other than that he is convinced it is in our best interest."
The Times says its poll, supervised by polling director Susan Pinkus, surveyed 745 adults Wednesday and Thursday; it has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
True to their ultra-liberal colors, the Times couldn’t wait to add that the President’s approval rating "didn't approach the 85 percent peak reached by his father, President George H.W. Bush, in Times polls during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.”
Other negative results:
A 2-to-1 majority said that, because of the war, the country cannot afford even the stripped-down, $350-billion version of Bush's proposed tax cut that the Senate recently approved. The Times quotes David Loveland, a stockbroker in Charleston, S.C. as saying "I wish he would pay attention to the economy. It appears his focus is on a lot of different things besides the economy."
They don’t bother to quote any respondents who favored the Bush tax cut, a tactic they share with the New York Times which will travel to the Gobi Desert if they have to in order to find some liberal who agrees with their left-wing views.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Saddam Hussein/Iraq
Printer Friendly Version
