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Poll finds splits over iraq 55 perc disapprove Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20031119/5691688s.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20031119/5691688s.htm
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Poll finds splits over Iraq to be more even 55% disapprove of U.S. management of the situation
By Richard Benedetto
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- A thin majority of Americans still believe the situation in Iraq was worth going to war, but most are unconvinced that the war has made the United States safer from terrorist attacks, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows.
At the same time, approval for the way the United States has handled Iraq since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1 has dropped by half from 80% as U.S. tanks rolled into Baghdad in April to 42% now.
More than half , 55%, disapprove of the administration's post-combat management, which is the highest negative measurement on that question since the invasion.
Women, minorities, liberals, moderates, independents and Democrats are least approving.
''Bush went in with no plan for getting out,'' says Rita Olen, 73, a retired saleswoman in Margate City, N.J.
''They've been fighting in Iraq since the Biblical days, and nothing changes,'' says Sharon Alleyne, 50, a retired custodial assistant in Philadelphia. ''Going over there to try and change it isn't going to work.
Males, whites, conservatives and Republicans are more positive in their assessments.
''We have to protect democracy from these terrorist groups, and there was no choice but to take action,'' says Nate Weston, 40, an ironworker in Madison, Maine.
Dave Howe, 67, a freelance writer in Eagle, Neb., says, ''More international help is needed, and the Bush administration needs to sell its case a little more as to why we need more help, and move from there. . . . The U.S. military and the coalition forces are carrying a pretty heavy burden right now.''
The poll sketches a picture of an electorate conflicted on an issue that has the potential to be pivotal in Bush's bid for a second term.
Historically, Americans are reluctant to say going to war was a mistake. At no time during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 did a majority of Americans express that view. U.S. troops had been in Vietnam for more than three years before a thin majority said in 1968 that the war was a mistake. The figure peaked at 61% in 1971, the year President Nixon began to pull out U.S. troops in large numbers and turn over combat operations to the South Vietnamese. The last U.S. combat troops left in 1973. After the Vietnam War was long over, the number of Americans considering it a mistake climbed to a high of 71% in 1990.
A slim majority in the poll taken Friday-Sunday, 53%, does not accept Bush's premise that U.S. action in Iraq will encourage political and economic reform in other countries in the Middle East; 42% say it will. But most of those polled, 55%, say Muslim countries in the Middle East can become democracies. Also, 56% say the United States has a responsibility to help other countries remove dictators and become democracies. The margin of error for the last two questions was +/--5 percentage points. For the other questions, it was +/--3 points.
The poll, taken as attacks on U.S. troops increased and the White House accelerated its plan for Iraq sovereignty, finds that most Americans expect the country to fall into chaos and civil war when U.S. troops leave.
Even if troops stay three years, more than eight in 10 expect U.S. military casualties to continue at the same rate or higher.
Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta, says the casualty rate is critical to Bush's re-election.
''Every day, something bad happens,'' Black says. ''If it goes on for too long, he will be in real trouble.'' Bush has barred news cameras from photographing the ceremonies held when the coffins of U.S. troops are removed from planes in the United States, and most people agree: 56% say the ceremonies should not be televised.
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