Iraq Surge Gains Slightly in Court of Public Opinion

The polling organizations are continuing to take the pulse of Americans in regard to the war in Iraq and specifically as to how the voters are perceiving the surge is doing. With a detailed report on the progress of the war due in September, many feel that that will be the time when a decision should be made on starting to withdraw the troops or not. Interest in the war is at a high point now and Americans are not timid about giving their opinions.

Nothing has happened since the last polls were taken to affect much of a change in the public's opinion, but there have been some.

This poll was taken by Rasmussen Reports and released on August 3rd. It shows that most of the voters in America sill favor removing all U.S. combat troops by early next year, however though they want it to happen, they do not believe it will. And the current policy in Iraq has gained just a tiny bit of support.

When you get down to the brass tacks of the situation, 58% of all respondents who say they are likely to vote want the troops out in the early part of 2008. On the opposite side, 34% are opposed to the pull out and 11% are not sure. Those figures have not changed much over the past month.

Breaking that down by party affiliations, 77% of the Democrats want the troops out as do 35% of the Republicans and 49% of those who do not have an affiliation with either major party.

When it comes to the opinion as to whether or not there is any chance that the troops will be out in early 2008, 25% say it is at least somewhat likely and 70% say it is not likely. By party affiliation it comes out this way, 31% of the Democrats, 25% of the Republicans and 17% of the unaffiliated voters say it is likely to happen.

As to the opinion on how the surge is going, 25% say it is working and 26% say it is too soon to tell. This is a big difference from last month when only 19% thought it was working and 24% said it was too soon to tell.

By parties, 77% of the Republicans say that either the surge has worked, or it is too early to tell, as do 51% of the unaffiliated and 28% of the Democrats, 69% of Democrats say the surge is a failure and so do 55% of the unaffiliated and 19% of the Republicans.

There are voters who do not want to wait until nest year and want the troops out now and that comes to 31% of the voters.

The most interesting survey in this series will be the one that comes after the progress report next month. There will be a lot of the opinions will be based on just how believable the public views the report and how believable the public views the statements of those who do not believe the report.

Rasmussen Reports http://www.rasmussenreports.com/