Backing for Iraq War Declines Amid Growing Mood of Pessimism
By Heidi Przybyla
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- Americans' support for President George W. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq continues to erode, producing a pervasive pessimism about the direction of the country, according to a new Bloomberg poll.
The survey also shows a plurality of Americans still approves of the new Democratic-led Congress while giving mixed signals about what to do about Iraq. A majority backs Democrats' proposals to withdraw troops by a set time next year while opposing congressional meddling in the conduct of the war.
There was little encouraging news for Bush in the poll of 2,269 adults taken from March 3 to March 11. The president's overall job rating was 38 percent, he got negative reviews on the economy and, by better than 2-to-1, people gave thumbs down to his Iraq policy. Seven in 10 Americans said the country is seriously off track.
``Everything is piling on and there's nothing that's getting him out,'' said Susan Pinkus, poll director at the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg's polling partner.
Despair over Iraq is spreading even to Bush's core supporters. More than one-third of Republicans and almost half of conservatives said the situation there wasn't worth the war.
``I support George Bush, I always have,'' Judy Wilson, a 61-year-old, self-described conservative Republican said in a follow-up interview. ``But I really believe that this turmoil cannot be fixed by sending more troops. It's a civil war now,'' said Wilson, a nurse from Pompton Plains, New Jersey.
Troop Withdrawal
Democrats are trying to capitalize on that sentiment by pushing a plan to withdraw U.S. combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008. Democratic leaders say the move would help focus resources on the fight against Islamic militants in Afghanistan. Bush's aides have said such a measure would trigger a presidential veto.
Young Americans and minorities are especially supportive of the Democratic plan to withdraw troops. Sixty-nine percent and 67 percent, respectively, expressed approval.
That's ``not surprising'' because it's young people and minorities who are disproportionately paying the costs of the war, said Dave Miller, a 29-year-old truck driver who is part black and part Latino.
``We're the ones who have to go serve,'' said Miller, a Democrat from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who's a Marine Corps veteran and has friends in Iraq. ``When we try to retire it's going to be us who will have to pay for this war.''
The poll also found a significant shift in war support among self-described moderate Republicans.
Moderate Flight
While these respondents supported Bush's Iraq policy by a margin of 64 percent to 35 percent in January, those numbers have reversed, with just 39 percent approving and 53 percent disapproving of his handling of the war.
Yet as war opposition builds, Americans remain torn over the best approach for getting out of the conflict. While a slight majority, 55 percent, supported Democratic efforts to withdraw all troops by March of 2008, an even bigger majority, 61 percent, agreed with the Bush administration that it's a bad idea for Congress to legislate the scope of the conflict.
Still, Bush's overall approval rating among Republicans remains strong, at 73 percent, the poll found. By comparison, just 32 percent of independents and 15 percent of Democrats approved of his job performance.
``He's done for the country what he thought was the right thing,'' said Rosalee Oaks, a 56-year-old secretary who lives in Elizabethton, Tennessee.
`Beaten Up'
``I believe that he is being beaten up for things that he can't help right now,'' said Oaks, a Republican who voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004. When it comes to the Iraq war, Oaks said Bush ``doesn't like it any better than we do.''
Meanwhile, approval of the Democratic-led Congress has risen slightly from the last poll in January. Forty-one percent of Americans said they approve of the way Democrats are handling their new responsibilities so far, a 5-point increase. Thirty- three percent disapproved and 26 percent said they're unsure.
In a Bloomberg-Los Angeles Times survey taken in September, 2006, when Republicans controlled Congress, congressional approval was 30 percent, versus 57 percent who disapproved.
The president also faces increased criticism of his handling of the economy, with 53 percent of Americans disapproving of his performance, up 4 points from January. Forty-three percent said they approve.
Favoring Clinton
A large majority of poll respondents said former President Bill Clinton did a better job handling the economy than Bush. Clinton, a Democrat, was favored over Bush by 58 percent to 32 percent.
Bush's pledge to balance the federal budget in five years while continuing to fund military and reconstruction programs in Iraq and making his tax cuts permanent met with widespread skepticism. Seventy-four percent of Americans called that goal unrealistic.
The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, was taken amid a number of reports that cast the administration in a harsh light.
Last week a Washington jury found Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury during an investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA official whose husband questioned the administration's rationale for invading Iraq.
Congress is investigating allegations that the Justice Department fired eight U.S. attorneys as part of a political purge. And the administration is under fire because of reports of decrepit facilities and substandard care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
``All we've heard in the last week or so is bad news for the administration,'' said Pinkus, the polling director.
To contact the reporter on this story: Heidi Przybyla in Washington at hprzybyla@bloomberg.net |
