"In the aforementioned ABC News/Washington Post poll, the 69% level of support for military action drops a whopping 12% points, to 57%, merely by inserting the word "troops" in the question. The same poll shows 36% would oppose military action.
"Troops" evokes memories of Vietnam, and skews the survey results.
To illustrate, back in March, 67% supported "using military air strikes but no U.S. ground troops" against Iraq, according to Gallup.
But when asked if they favor using "U.S. ground troops to invade Iraq", public support plummets a full 21% percentage points, from 67% to 46%!! The same poll shows a huge 50% would oppose such action.
Again, this survey was taken back in March, when war "fever" was sizzling -- supposedly more "heated" than currently.
So, in the end, all the media brouhaha about plunging support for war on Saddam is based on flawed or fallacious interpretation of polling data -- wishful thinking, not fact."
I'm inclined to agree with his assessment.
By way of illustration, in a new Newsweek poll, 62% of respondents said they support military action to remove Saddam Hussein.