by Mark Silva
The Capitol Hill campaign of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker hasn't swayed the public in opinions toward the war in Iraq, a new survey shows.
However, the Pew Research Center has registered "a modest increase in positive views about the U.S. military effort,'' while "bottom-line public attitudes toward the war are unchanged.''
Most Americans surveyed (57 percent) who had heard at least something about Petraeus' report to Congress said they approved of his recommendations for troop withdrawals: Pulling about 21,000 combat troops from Iraq by mid-July, returning the U.S. deployment to "pre-surge'' levels. President Bush endorsed that recommendation in a speech delivered last week.
Yet only 16 percent say that Petraeus, commanding general of U.S. and multinational forces in Iraq, has made them more optimistic about the war with his report of progress in some parts of Iraq, while 67 percent say their views were unchanged by the general’s report.
Public attitudes toward the war overall are unchanged: With 47 percent saying the United States will probably or definitely fail to achieve its goals in Iraq in the latest survey, essentially unchanged from the 49 percent who said so in a July survey.
And opinions about withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq have not changed at all over the past two months, Pew has found: 54 percent say that U.S. forces should be brought home as soon as possible while 39 percent say U.S. troops should remain in Iraq until the situation is stable.
Forty-one percent of those surveyed said the U.S. military effort is going very or fairly well, up from 36 percent of those surveyed in July.
Relative to earlier in the year, more Americans say the U.S. is making progress in reducing civilian casualties, defeating the insurgents militarily, and preventing terrorists from establishing bases in Iraq from which they can attack elsewhere.
"But the public’s outlook on the situation in Iraq is hardly rosy'' Pew reports.
Opinion runs most negative when it comes to preventing a civil war between religious and ethnic groups in Iraq – 57 percent believe the U.S. is losing ground on this front. In addition, roughly half (49 percent) say the U.S. is losing ground in establishing democracy in Iraq.
Only about a third (35 percent) see progress being made in the Iraqis taking more responsibility for security, while 49 percent say the U.S. is losing ground.
The latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press was conducted Sept. 12-16 among 1,501 adults.
For the full report, see the poll.
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Comments
The Department of Dubya must reap that which it has sown.
All these years of happy talk have used up whatever credibility they had to begin with.
If Dubya said the grass is green and the sky is blue, Americans everywhere are going outside too see for themselves.
If you shook hands with Dubya or Darth, when you get your hand back you're going to count your fingers to be sure they're all still there.
Other than that they're stand up guys.
Posted by: Doug Zook | September 18, 2007 2:29 PM
Petraeus was the only General that Prez Lone Ranger could find to implement his "escalation strategy" in Iraq, this is all about continuing this mess until Jan 09 when Bush can walk away from his self-made disaster in Iraq.
Any General with any sort of an independent thought process regarding Iraq has already been fired by this pathetic administration.
Patraeus made himself a political figure in 2004 when he did an op-ed in the Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49283-2004Sep25.html
supporting George W. Busk's re-election and telling us that we were "winning" in Iraq....whatever that means.
Petraeus is Bush's version of Gen Westmoreland during Vietnam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU_oIOAyufM
Posted by: John E | September 18, 2007 2:41 PM
I agree that this administration's game of "RISK" using real people has got to end. You can't keep rolling the dice and hope you hit the right numbers.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | September 18, 2007 4:45 PM
Well, waddya know, the American public isn't buying Republic Genrl. Betrayus' lies about how great our excellent Iraqi adventure is going. Something about fool me once, or something...
Posted by: weinerdog43 | September 18, 2007 5:24 PM
"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."
-------gwb
Posted by: snitramc | September 18, 2007 7:00 PM
Sorry, Loons, and unpatriotic loons at that, one reason Petraeus didn't get better feedback is because the media and the Dems just dissed the general time and time again. If people were to actually get the general's report unfiltered, they probably would come away more positively.
Anyway, Doug Zook, as an ex-military man, what are your thoughts on the weinerbrain and moveon.org always referring to the general as Gen. Betrayus???
Posted by: John D | September 18, 2007 7:40 PM
John D
Didn't they just come out with a report that most columnists/media are republican/conservatives? Did you miss this?
Posted by: lochnessmonster | September 18, 2007 8:30 PM
Lochness, the media is not conservative. That "report" came from Media Matters, a left wing, John Podesta-run outfit. To them, anyone to the right of Molly Ivins is conservative. Mort Kondrake, a conservative??? He's a liberal moderate. David Broder a centrist? He's a Washington liberal.
The media is owned by libs. Just a few that I'll name here in the Trin are liberal: Mark Silva, Frank James, Bill Niekirk, Charles Madigan (and I had lunch with him and we talked), Jill Zuckman, Mary Schmich, Eric Zorn, Maureen Ryan, Michael Tackett, Michael Warren, and on and on and on and on.
Paul Krugman and Frank Rich among the boatloads at the NY Times: liberals, in fact far left liberals.
Matt Lauer and Meredith Vierra: liberal. Brian Williams: liberal. Katie Couric: liberal. Charles Gibson: liberal.Tim Russert: liberal. George Stephanopolous: liberal. Wolf Blitzer: liberal. Lochness, I could be here all night.
Posted by: John D | September 18, 2007 9:48 PM
Lil' Johnny,
Sorry, the patriot card is all used up. The fear card is all used up. The idiots who hijacked the Republican Party are "in the last throes".
Posted by: dt | September 18, 2007 11:27 PM
Anyway, Doug Zook, as an ex-military man, what are your thoughts on the weinerbrain and moveon.org always referring to the general as Gen. Betrayus???
Posted by: John D | September 18, 2007 7:40 PM
Since misnaming people you hate is SOP for you, why is the play on Petraeus/Betrayus so offensive to you? Oh, I forgot, when you or another wingnut does it, it's fine.
By the way, the Media is owned by about 5 conservative conglomerates. If they hire froth to appeal to the massess-Matt Lauer,et al., they do it for the ratings. I would hardly call most of those you named anything but a waste of time. How do you know if anyone is conservative or liberal? Are you a mind reader? From my observation, any time a negative story is aired about one of your heroes, even though it is factual and newsworthy, you think the messinger is "liberal."
So I continue to think of you as a hypocrite and a crybaby.
Posted by: Catherine | September 19, 2007 9:41 AM
John D. your postings are getting old and boring. You do not have to be a liberal to dislike George Bush. Mr. Bush is the worst President the U.S. has ever had. History will show this. Why don't you move along and stop your whining??
This Patraeus report was most likely shaped and signed off on by the White House. It borders on being a misrepresentation of facts. Patraeus is a lap-dog. Bush and his administration have been lying to, misleading, and deceiving the American people about Iraq since 2003.
Posted by: Doug R. | September 19, 2007 11:54 AM