Washington – Seventy percent of Americans oppose sending more troops to Iraq, according to a new poll that provides a devastatingly blunt response to President Bush’s plan to bolster military forces there.
All sides in the Iraq debate are keenly aware of mounting public dissatisfaction with the situation: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday it’s one thing on which all Americans – including administration officials – are united.
Yet the Associated Press-Ipsos poll found widespread disagreement with the Bush administration over its proposed solution, and growing skepticism that the United States made the right decision in going to war in the first place.
Just as 70 percent of Americans oppose sending more troops to Iraq, a like number don’t think such an increase would help stabilize the situation there, the poll suggested.
When asked to name the most important problem facing the U.S., 38 percent volunteered war, up significantly from 24 percent three months ago.
The AP-Ipsos telephone survey of 1,002 adults was conducted Monday through Wednesday night, when the president made his speech calling for an increase in troops. News had already surfaced before the polling period that Bush planned to boost U.S. forces in Iraq.
Iraq is a drag on Bush’s overall job approval rating, too. That rating is at 32 percent in the latest survey, a new low in AP-Ipsos polling.
Just 35 percent of Americans think it was right for the United States to go to war, another record low in AP polling and a reversal from two years ago when two-thirds of Americans thought it was the correct move. Sixty percent, meanwhile, think it is unlikely that a stable, democratic Iraqi government will be established.
Democrats are far more inclined to oppose an increase of troops, with 87 percent against the idea, compared with 42 percent of Republicans.
The survey had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
