American Public Unfazed…For Now

The Washington Post reports on the last Post/ABC poll, taken apparently last night, which finds support for the war unchanged at over 70%, notwithstanding yesterday’s bad news. Over half of respondents said they expect coalition forces to sustain “significant” casualties, while 80% expect a “difficult fight” for Baghdad. More Americans say the war so far is going “better than they expected” than say it is going “worse than they expected.”
This is good, I guess, although perhaps not too meaningful given the pace at which most Americans absorb news. I would expect yesterday’s setbacks to be reflected in survey data later this week; a lot will depend on how the next few days go. Still, it seems that the American people have a pretty realistic understanding of the costs of war.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses