Bush's Credibility on Iraq Slips
As Doubts About Weapons Grow
A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP
The government's credibility on Iraq has dropped in the past two months, with more Americans saying they are skeptical about the intelligence used to justify the war. Still, confidence has grown over Iraq's ties to terrorism.
Some 47% of adults said that they think the Bush administration's statements before the war about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorism were accurate, according to the latest Harris Poll. That is down from 55% who felt that way in June.
The survey showed that 63% of respondents don't believe clear evidence of banned weapons has been found, up from 55% in June. Fewer people also said they believe Iraq had such weapons before the war began.
Americans have grown more confident about Iraq's links to al Qaeda: Half of respondents said there is clear evidence of a link, up from 48% who felt that way in June.
Here are the results of our latest poll:
"Do you believe that what we were told by the government before the Iraq war about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and Iraq's links to Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization, was generally accurate or inaccurate?"
June Now
Accurate 55% 47%
Inaccurate 36 45
Not sure/Refused 10 8
* * *
"Do you believe that clear evidence of weapons of mass destruction has been found in Iraq, or not?
June Now
Clear evidence found 35% 27%
No clear evidence found 55 63
Not sure/Refused 10 10
* * *
"Do you believe Iraq actually had weapons of mass destruction when the war began or not?"
June Now
Believe Iraq had them 69% 67%
Do not believe 21 23
Not sure/Refused 10 10
* * *
"Do you believe clear evidence that Iraq was supporting Al Qaeda has been found in Iraq or not?"
June Now
Clear evidence found 48% 50%
No clear evidence 33 35
Not sure/Refused 19 14
* * *
"Do you believe that the U.S. government deliberately exaggerated the reports of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in order to increase support for war, or do you think it tried to present the information accurately?"
June Now
Deliberately exaggerated 37% 40%
Tried to present accurately 56 53
Not sure/Refused 8 7
* * *
"If it turns out that Iraq had no significant weapons of mass destruction and there was no strong link to Al Qaeda, would you think we were told the truth by the U.S. government or that we were misled?"
June Now
Told the truth 40% 33%
Misled 50 56
Not sure/Refused 10 11
Methodology: This poll was conducted online between August 12-17, 2003, among a nationwide cross section of 1,011 adults (18+). Figures for age, sex, race, education, income and number of adults were weighted where necessary to align with population proportions. "Propensity score" weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online. Harris Interactive estimates the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. |
