John McCain’s stance on the war is unambiguous: He voted for it, supports the current enhanced U.S. troop presence in Iraq and vigorously opposes any time table to withdraw.
The public’s stance on the war is as equivocal as McCain’s is not: A strong majority opposes it and believes it was wrong in the first place, but more find McCain better suited to handle Iraq than his Democratic presidential rival, Barack Obama.
For McCain, there is a major complication. Not all those voters who perceive him as stronger on Iraq say they will vote for him for president.
Unlike the 2004 presidential contest, this is not shaping up as a national-security election. Neither the war nor terrorism is foremost in the public’s mind. The economy and energy prices are the pre-eminent issues of the day. And on those, Obama has the edge.
Still, this hate-the-war, love-the- warrior strain runs through the U.S. electorate. In a new Associated Press-Yahoo News poll, more than one out of five respondents who said they opposed the war also said they support McCain for president.
