Poll: Fading Support For Iraq War
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2005
cbsnews.com
Public support for U.S. involvement in Iraq continues to fall. By two to one, Americans reject financing the war through an increased federal deficit, and 62% would finance paying for the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast by cutting spending in Iraq....
...Democrats and Republicans find themselves on different sides of the issue. 61% of Republicans want the U.S. to stay in Iraq for as long as it takes, while 73% of Democrats want U.S. troops out as soon as possible. 62% of Independents also want U.S. troops to leave. It is noteworthy, however, that 36% of Republicans, and 45% of conservatives, would like to see U.S. troops out of Iraq.
...Assessments of how the U.S. is faring in Iraq have been negative for the past six months, and continue to be now. 43% think the war is going well for the U.S., while 55% think it is going badly.
Given the decreasing support for the U.S. presence in Iraq, it should not be surprising that spending for the war is not popular among the public. A majority of Americans are willing to cut spending in Iraq to pay for rebuilding the Gulf Coast, and 66% think it is unacceptable to increase the federal deficit in order to pay for the war.
Half of Republicans (and 48% of conservatives) are willing to incur a larger deficit to finance the war; only 17% of Democrats and 27% of Independents find this acceptable.
Furthermore, 62% find reducing spending on the war in Iraq acceptable as a means of paying recovery and rebuilding on the Gulf Coast....
IRAQ AND TERRORISM
The public is dubious about direct ties between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 terrorists. 55% think Saddam Hussein was not involved in the attacks on 9/11 (unchanged in the past year), 33% think he was.
However, Americans are divided as to whether Hussein was working with Al Qaeda in the months before the war. 39% think they were working together, 41% think they were not. One in five isn’t sure.
More Republicans than Democrats are convinced there were ties between Iraq and terrorism. 44% of Republicans think Hussein was involved in 9/11, and 61% think Hussein was working with Al Qaeda before the war.
There is no broad consensus as to the effect U.S. involvement in Iraq has had on terrorism against the U.S. 42% think the U.S. military action there has had no effect. 32% think it has made the U.S. safer, while 24% think it has made the U.S. less safe.
...Alternatively, when asked how removing Saddam Hussein from power has affected terrorism, even more, 55%, think it has had no impact. 27% think that made the U.S. safer, while 17% think it made the U.S. less safe.
MILITARY FAMILIES AND THE WAR'S IMPACT
In a CBS News/New York Times Poll conducted in September, almost two thirds of Americans said they are feeling the impact of the Iraq war in their own community.
Certain communities have been more greatly affected by the war than others. 34% of those living in the South say the war has had a major impact on their community; in other regions of the country, about one in four report the same. African Americans, Democrats, those living in cities, and lower income Americans are also more likely to report their communities have been affected by the war.
That impact has been primarily a negative one. 62% of those who say their community was impacted (in either a major or minor way) by the war said that impact was mostly negative; 29% said it was positive.
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This poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 808 adults, interviewed by telephone October 3-5, 2005. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus four percentage points. |
