Posted on 08/06/2020 12:22:36 PM PDT by RandFan
About three-quarters of U.S. adults say they support bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan in a new poll commissioned by the libertarian Charles Koch Institute obtained exclusively by The Hill.
In the poll, which surveyed 2,000 U.S. adults, 44 percent said they strongly support bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq and 30 percent said they somewhat support doing so.
For Afghanistan, 46 percent said they strongly support bringing troops home and 30 percent said they somewhat support it.
The poll was conducted by YouGov for the Charles Koch Institute, the research institute founded by conservative mega-donor Charles Koch that advocates a noninterventionist foreign policy, including supporting withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Given how polarized the country is on so many other issues, it is striking how unified Americans are on ending our endless wars in the Middle East, prioritizing domestic concerns over foreign ones, and avoiding greater military engagement in conflicts overseas,” Will Ruger, vice president of research and policy at the Charles Koch Institute, said in a statement to The Hill.
“After nearly 20 years of costly and often unnecessary military engagement abroad along with the current challenges facing our country at home, it is a positive sign that the American public increasingly wants to see the United States pursue a more realist foreign policy,” Ruger added.
Asked whether the United States should be more or less involved militarily in global conflicts, 48 percent of respondents said engagement should decrease, while 32 percent said the level of engagement should stay the same and 7 percent said it should increase. Fifty percent of Democrats surveyed said military engagement should decrease, compared to 40 percent of Republicans.
The poll, which was weighted for gender, age, race, and education, has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.
The results for Iraq and Afghanistan, collected from July 24 to July 27, represent an uptick from a similar YouGov poll commissioned by the Charles Koch Institute in January. In that poll, 37 percent said they strongly supported and 31 percent said they somewhat supported bringing troops home from Iraq, while 38 percent said they strongly supported and 31 percent said they somewhat supported doing so in Afghanistan.
The January poll also found 27 percent said military engagement should stay about the same, while 52 percent supported less engagement.
The most recent poll comes as President Trump is pushing forward with a withdrawal in Afghanistan that is opposed by members of Congress from both parties.
In line with a deal with the Taliban the Trump administration signed in February, the U.S. military has drawn down to about 8,600 troops. Trump is saying he wants to further draw down to 4,000 to 5,000 troops by Election Day, even as military officials have insisted any further withdrawal will be based on conditions on the ground that have not been met yet.
Lawmakers in a bipartisan vote included in the House’s version of the annual defense policy bill a provision that seeks to slow an Afghanistan withdrawal by requiring the administration to make a series of certifications before any further drawdowns in Afghanistan.
The bill must be reconciled with the Senate’s version, which does not include a similar provision but where senators in both parties have expressed concerns about a precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In Iraq, U.S. officials are negotiating future troops levels with the Iraqi government after Iraqi lawmakers called for a withdrawal. Iraqi opposition to the U.S. presence in their country grew at the beginning of the year after the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani on Iraqi soil.
There are about 5,200 U.S. troops in Iraq helping local forces fight the remnants of ISIS.
The YouGov poll found similar levels of support for withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan across parties. The same percentage of Democrats and Republicans polled, 77 percent of each, said they strongly or somewhat support bringing troops home from Iraq.
For Afghanistan, 78 percent of Democratic respondents said they strongly or somewhat support bringing troops home, compared to 77 percent of Republicans who said the same.
The poll, meanwhile, found more support for the U.S. troops stationed in Europe. Forty percent said the number of troops in Europe should stay the same, compared to 36 percent who said the number should decrease.
Specifically for Germany, 40 percent said the number of troops should stay the same, while 33 percent said it should decrease.
Forty-three percent of Democratic respondents and 46 percent of Republicans said troop numbers should stay the same in both Europe in general and Germany specifically.
Trump ordered a drawdown from Germany as punishment for Berlin not meeting NATO’s goal of spending 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense.
The Pentagon announced last week it would pull about 11,900 troops from Germany, sending about 5,600 elsewhere in Europe and bringing about 6,400 back to the United States.
I thought the KOCH brothers were all in for the neo con crowd?
Don’t think so.. I might be wrong. I don’t follow them closely..
It’s been 17 years!
All of WWII was only 4 years!....................
We haven’t been firebombing enough enemy cities.
My unit was mobilized in 1991 for Operation Desert Shield, then Desert Storm and all named operations afterwards.
We’ve been in the Sand Box for 29 years now...and I’ve been asking Presidents to bring our kids home since 1993.
Grrrrr! Too much American blood shed and treasure squandered. And for what? Those goat humpers are always going to be killing one another; they HAVE been since the dawn of man!
We have weapons the generals of WWII could not even dream of and after 17 years we still haven’t destroyed the barefoot, dirty nightshirt wearing, little boy raping Talibastards............................
The Defense contractors are making too much money. Can’t let this happen.
We had Iraq all seen up till Obama gave it away, Afghanistan will always be a quagmire.
should of left the minute we captured Saddam.
and 83% think the media lies hurt America, perhaps Trump is moving hearts and minds his way.
Right you are. I bet Liz and her fellow hawks have a knot in their drawers over this. I hope the President gets our military out and leaves those stone age Neanderthals a little gift that goes POW on the way out!
How long did it take for the U.S. to bring all of our troops home from Germany and Japan after WWII?
No one did anything about either of those until Trump.
They can't wait to go back to what they consider normal.
Sorry to be cynical but too often our government doesn't work for the interests of Americans.
My unit was mobilized in 1991 for Operation Desert Shield, then Desert Storm and all named operations afterwards.
We’ve been in the Sand Box for 29 years now...and I’ve been asking Presidents to bring our kids home since 1993.
Grrrrr! Too much American blood shed and treasure squandered. And for what? Those goat humpers are always going to be killing one another; they HAVE been since the dawn of man!
I don’t want to leave this globe, concerned about our great nieces/nephews dying and bleeding in the Sand Box.
Any so called conservatives worried about the Sand Box can go over and shed their own blood and bones.
75% of Americans want the borders secured and the laws enforced too.
Bush League Republicans don’t care what the citizens want.
Nearly 40 years have passed since I left Germany, and the memories linger today. I don't think I've ever done so much as during the 4+ years I was stationed there. That's not to denigrate my personal history since then, but when I left, 6/56 ADA was a C-1 rated battalion, responsible for the short range air defense of Bitburg, Hahn, and Spangdahlem air bases. I arrived as a 2nd LT fresh out of college, and left as a young Captain brimming with the confidence from the experiences gained over those years.
We've spent enough time, blood, treasure, and money in Iraq and Afghanistan. You'd think our generals would have a better understanding of world history, particularly in the Middle East.
Amen! Sorry to be cynical but too often our government doesn’t work for the interests of Americans.
We have a Nephew in the Marines and one in the Air Force. No problems yet, but with the likes of Liz Cheney in the mix, it ain’t looking favorable! :(
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