Posted on 06/20/2006 12:26:24 PM PDT by jmc1969
Americans are now more positive about the way things are going in Iraq than in the past few months, following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and President Bush's brief visit to the country. Optimism about the U.S. achieving its goals in Iraq, which sagged in the spring, has rebounded.
A 53% majority now says the military effort in Iraq is going at least fairly well, up from 47% in April and an all-time low of 43% in March. The share who believe that the U.S. is making progress in training Iraqi forces, defeating the insurgents, and establishing a democracy has also risen from recent lows.
Nearly half of Americans (48%) now say that the U.S. is making progress in defeating the insurgents militarily, compared with 36% who say we are losing ground. In March, the public's views were nearly reversed 36% said we were making progress defeating the insurgents while 51% said we were losing ground.
However, the positive news from Iraq has had a limited effect on Bush's standing with the public. Bush's job approval stands at 36%, compared with 33% in April, and since March he has gained modestly on terrorism and the war in Iraq.
Zarqawi's death did attract broad public attention, with seven-in-ten following news of his killing either very closely (37%) or fairly closely (35%).
An increasing number also believe the effort in Iraq has helped the war on terrorism (44%, up from 38% in April). Moreover, the public sees progress on specific objectives in the war, including defeating the insurgents militarily and training Iraqi security forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at people-press.org ...
Wow, a slight majority in a P-U poll must mean at least 60% in reality.
It's Tony Snow's fault.
I may become a Snowflake if this keeps up.
Dead "cat" bounce?
It's a good thing Bush doesnt pander to polls regarding Iraq, as Clinton certainly used to do on EVERY issue.
I mean, its a pointless poll to ask Americans "are we making progress in Iraq?" on several different fronts when all that people know is the latest death count. The average American probably couldnt even fnid Iraq on an unlabeled map, much less decide whether our complex foreign policy is making headway.
Will we bring out bin-Laden for the November elections too? Should get another nice bump. :)
1: June 14-19 includes the 17th and 18th which are Sat. and Sun. respectively, days people like us typically take off.
2: What do they mean by "Americans"? Why not adults, registered voters, likely voters...
Yeah, if it's Pew, it's cooked against Republicans.
If you want to know how things are really going, ask yourself what the news media **isn't** talking about...
...anyone else notice that the press isn't babbling on about a "civil war" breaking out in Iraq any longer?!
Why don't you start a thread about illegal immigration and see if I can turn it into a discussion about Iraq?
It goes to show that Polls show how fickle people really are.
One has to be suspicious with these leftist pollsters.If the numbers are correct it sure makes the American people look bad because they lack patience and perserverence.
Good to see, though rather meaningless, as most polls. Maybe the majority is starting to realize that the only way we're going to achieve our goals in Iraq is to stay the course and finish what we started?
The article's main subject was President Bush's poll numbers concerning Iraq. The article's secondary subject was Bush's poll numbers in general: However, the positive news from Iraq has had a limited effect on Bush's standing with the public. I was pointing out the reason for the low poll numbers: dissatisfaction among his base over immigration.
Exactly. Many people seem to have the attention span of a gnat.
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