Posted on 03/18/2003 8:56:57 AM PST by Cervantes
Public opinion has shifted dramatically towards military action against Iraq, with the anti-war lead in the Guardian/ICM opinion poll narrowing from 23 to only six points in the past month.
This has been accompanied by a recovery in Tony Blair's personal rating, according to results of the March survey, published today.
Women and Liberal Democrat voters remain overwhelmingly opposed to the war, but majority backing for military action is now to be found for the first time among men and among Labour and Conservative voters.
The ICM poll also shows that the country is split over whether anti-war ministers should resign from the government, but a majority of Labour voters say they prefer them to remain in post.
The poll shows that the Iraq crisis is yet to do any serious damage to Labour's poll rating, and the government, on 38% (down 1), maintains a six point lead over the Conservatives on 32% (up 1), who have yet to capitalise on Mr Blair's difficulties. Labour's poll rating has fallen from 43% in January to 38% now.
The real beneficiaries have been the Liberal Democrats. They are on 24% (up 2), their best ICM/Guardian poll rating for 10 years. Unlike Labour and Conservative voters, Liberal Democrats overwhelmingly oppose the war by a two to one majority and are seen as the "anti-war party".
The poll results also show that Mr Blair's personal rating has begun to rally and has moved up from minus 20 points last month to minus 11 this month. The results show 40% of voters satisfied with the job he is doing as prime minister and 51% dissatisfied.
Among Labour voters Mr Blair remains highly popular with an overall rating of plus 45 points. He has the support of 70% of Labour voters and only 25% are not happy with the job he is doing. Among Tories his net rating has improved from minus 65 to minus 42, and among Lib Dems from minus 54 to minus 30 points.
These figures suggest that Mr Blair might have gone through his worst moment and his attempt to secure a second UN resolution seems to have impressed voters. There could also be a measure of the public getting behind its leader at a time of trouble.
Surprisingly the poll also shows quite good ratings for George Bush with 53% of voters saying they have confidence in him to make the right decisions on Iraq, while 43% have no confidence in him.
There has been an eight and a half point swing towards support for war in the past month. Disapproval has dropped eight points to 44% and support has risen by nine points to 38%.
· ICM interviewed 1,002 adults aged 18 and over by telephone between March 14 and 16 2003. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.
WOW!!!
Ooh, that sounds rather painful.
Blair, Bush, Asnar, and all the rest will be vindicated when this is through. Chirac, Schroeder, and the UN will lose big.
Oh, yes. "Nice to see you're supporting the French position" is technically an obscenity in London, I believe...
Great news. Tony Blair has suffered no ill effects from his wise leadership. And gotta love that polling number on George Bush! He's more popular in Britain than in california! :-)
Bwahahahahaha ... Sound Leadership seems to have made its mark. Now watch when saddam is removed and the files are exposed. there is surely a lot more there wrt terrorist support and torture that could only be hinsted at before.. I hope the administrations make the most of that and rub the nose of the appeasers about how wrong they were.
Quick! Alert Wolf Blitzer - He'll want to publicize this right away!
Yeh. I figure we'll be in and out by the end of April, early May. And that includes the Iraqi infrastructure and people back on their feet before we leave.
I don't see much Iraq opposition at all.
According to FOX this a.m., Iraqi military personel were trying to surrender in the north today. Because there is no war, our military had to send them back until the liberation actually starts.
About 30 hours until the deadline....tick toc.....tick toc....
I think the liberation should start right as the Oscars start. Heh heh heh. Payback is a bitch.
I agree 500%. Fox would outperform the Oscars and it would be a Whine-O-Rama on the Oscar stage.
If a liberal whines and there's no one to hear, does anyone really care?
No kidding. I'm reminded of the "Netscape" poll, where people were asked, something to the effect of 'do you support U.S. troops'. The possible choices were (again somethign like):
a. Yes
b. No, the Constitution protects my choice to disagree
And most people went with "b" vs. "a".
It was a "slimy" way to word a poll, IMHO.
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