From rock bottom, U.S. confidence rises in Iraq war role

One little-publicized finding of the new Pew poll is that, compared to last month, Americans now are slightly more optimistic about the Iraq war.

The portion of Americans who believe the war is going “very well” or “fairly well” for the United States increased from the all-time low of 30 percent in February to 40 percent this month.

This bump in support comes just as E.J. Dionne calls the battle for a free Iraq “a conflict that grows more unpopular by the day.” Which day in March?

In the last month, the percent of Americans saying the war is going “not too well” or “not well at all” dropped from 67 to 56.

Sample of 1,503. The Pew Research Center took the poll of 1,503 people from March 21 to March 25.

The portion of Americans who said the U.S. invasion of Iraq was the “wrong decision” dipped from an all-time high of 54 percent in February to 49 percent in March.

The percent calling the Iraq invasion the “right decision” rose from 40 to 43.

‘Increasingly popular’? I won’t leap to call this the “increasingly popular” Iraq war just yet. We’ll need a couple months’ progress to make that call. But maybe Americans have noticed hopeful signs in the Baghdad Security plan.

The “surge” has done well, for the moment.

Frank Warner

* * *

See also: ‘Single Backpack Theory’: What really happened at the Iraq National Museum.

See also: Mark Twain’s secret critique of a Medal of Honor winner of the Philippines war.

See also: The full story of Reagan’s Evil Empire Speech.

See also: The Dawes Act: Why American Indian reservations are doomed to failure.

See also: Proposal: Double the minium wage for illegal immigrants.

See also: Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson made sure we were 100% wrong on WMDs.

Comments

[TM Lutas]

Nice commentary, truly reality based and cautious. What a nice surprise to be able to use those words without partisanship.

[Bill Smith]

"SLIGHT" increase?!

A move from 30% to 40% is HUGE!

That is a 33% increase!!!

[A.A.]

You omitted a couple of other key findings from the Pew Poll:

"Do you think Democratic leaders in Congress are going too far or not far enough in challenging George W. Bush's policies in Iraq, or are they handling this about right?"

23% of Americans said "going to far" vs. 30 percent who said "about right" and 40% who said "not far enough."

"And thinking about a specific proposal: The Congress is now debating future funding for the war in Iraq. Would you like to see your congressional representative vote FOR or AGAINST a bill that calls for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq to be completed by August of 2008?"

59% said "vote for" vs. 33% for "vote against."

In other words, the American people want out of Iraq and would to see Congress move faster and farther in that direction.

[Frank Warner]

For more than a year, perhaps two years, about half of Americans have been saying they want out of Iraq "within a year." But that year keeps moving back.

In other words, when they say they'll give the war another year or more, they're saying they see some progress and are willing to give it more time.

If the polls start to show a majority wanting the U.S. out of Iraq within six months, that would be a sign that Americans had given up on securing Iraq's new democracy.

But most are not ready to surrender yet. Everyone wants the troops home as soon as possible, but only 18 percent want them withdrawn immediately.

[Kevin]

One word:

WOOOOOOOOOH!