title: “Hail To The Chief” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-20” author: “Mary Mudge”
The president polled well for his handling of the Iraqi conflict, and respondents also gave him higher marks than in previous weeks for his efforts to improve the economy. Fifty-three percent of those polled say they approve of the way Bush is handling the economy–the highest number since May 2001. An even greater number support his efforts to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Seventy percent of those polled approve of the way Bush his actions in Iraq, Bush’s best ranking since NEWSWEEK began polling Americans on the issue last September. It’s also a 17 percent jump from the percentage who approved of Bush’s “policies to deal with the threat posed by Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein” in late January, when respondents were last asked the question.
The majority of those polled (63 percent) agree that the United States was right in taking military action in Iraq when it did, though 32 percent feel that more time should have been devoted to negotiating a diplomatic solution. The NEWSWEEK poll was conducted on March 27 and 28 and 1,004 adults aged 18 and older were interviewed. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Despite concerns voiced this week by some analysts that the war might take longer than was initially expected, nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of those polled say they believe that the Bush Administration has a “well-thought-out plan” for using military force against Iraq–up sharply from 49 percent in late September. And nearly half of Americans polled (49 percent) say they would support continuing U.S. military action in Iraq for more than a year, if that were how long it took to disarm Iraq and remove Saddam. Thirteen percent say they would support continued military action for several months, nine percent for up to a year, eight percent would support action for the next several weeks and an equal number says they would only support continuing U.S. military action for another week or less (13 percent don’t know).
Americans also seem optimistic that the war will not produce as many casualties, or rifts between the United States and its western allies or Arab states, as initially expected. Fifty-five percent say they are concerned that the Iraqi war will create divisions between the United States and its allies, but that’s down from the 66 percent who felt that way two weeks ago, before the war began. Similarly, the percentage of Americans who believe the war will cause serious problems for the United States throughout the Arab world dropped seven percent in the past two weeks from 69 percent to 62 percent.
About half of those polled (51 percent) now think that Iraq will retaliate by using biological or chemical weapons against Israel–down sharply from 73 percent two weeks ago. Sixty-eight percent still believe Saddam might launch a biological or chemical attack against the United States and 73 percent fear more terror attacks against American citizens in retaliation for the attack on Iraq, though that is down as well from 78 percent and 82 percent respectively two weeks ago.
Less than one-third of Americans (32 percent) now think the draft will be reinstated, compared to 46 percent who thought so two weeks ago. And 58 percent think the war will spark a peace or protest movement akin to those during the Vietnam War, down from 68 percent who thought so the week before the war began.
Americans also believe that fewer Iraqi citizens will be killed than they had originally predicted. Sixty-seven percent still believe it is very (38 percent) or somewhat (29 percent) likely that thousands of Iraqi civilians will be killed or injured. But that’s down from 80 percent who thought so two weeks ago. Still, 56 percent of those polled think that it is very likely that the number of Iraqi civilian casualties could be in the hundreds–and 29 percent say it is somewhat likely. (On Saturday, the Iraqi government said approximately 500 Iraqis had been killed in the conflict.)
Half of those polled say they would prefer to increase safeguards in order to reduce the risk of Iraqi casualties, even if it led to a longer war. But 40 percent prefer the country take more aggressive military action that would increase the risk of Iraqi casualties but might lead to a shorter war; 10 percent don’t know.
Three-quarters of Americans acknowledge that it is very (35 percent) or somewhat likely (40 percent) that many U.S. pilots or other military personnel will also be killed or taken prisoner. Since the war began on March 20, between 50 and 60 Americans have been killed or are missing or captured.
