(CBS) Two-thirds of Americans say the fighting in Iraq may be beyond the U.S. military's ability to control, according to the latest CBS News poll. Just 25 percent say the military can be effective in lessening the violence between Iraqis.
The war continues to take a toll on opinions about President Bush – his approval rating for handling Iraq is just 27 percent, and his overall job approval is just 32 percent – but the public is divided when it comes to what Congress should do about the war.
While 63 percent disapprove of the president's plan to send more troops to Iraq, there's a nearly even split on whether Congress should pass a nonbinding resolution expressing disapproval of the troop buildup: 44 percent favor passage of the measure and 45 percent are opposed.
A majority, 53 percent, thinks Congress should either block all funding for the war, or block funding for sending more troops; 42 percent think Congress should allow all funding for the war.
Opinions about both funding for the war and the congressional resolution are sharply divided by political party. More than 7 in 10 Democrats favor blocking at least some moneys for the war, while 69 percent of Republicans want Congress to allow all funding.
The PDF file for the complete CBS News poll results can be found here.
There are some interesting contradictions in this poll to talk about. First, it is obvious that a 67 percent majority of the American public believe that the fighting in Iraq is beyond the American military's attempt to control it. But the interesting debate here is the question of troop funding. The poll shows a slight majority of Americans supporting the blocking of funding, where 8 percent support the blocking of all funding and 45 percent support blocking of funding for more troops. The percentage of Americans who support all funding of the troops is at 42 percent. The American public is now debating this issue, and this debate is taking place right along party lines. Consider this from the CBS News poll results:
77% of Democrats want Congress to block funding for additional troops or for the war entirely, while 69% of Republicans think Congress should allow all funding for the war.
44% would like to see Congress pass a non-binding resolution against sending additional troops to Iraq. Nearly the same percentage - 45% - oppose the resolution.
These views are highly correlated with partisanship. 57% of Democrats think Congress should pass a non-binding resolution against sending more troops to Iraq, while 65% of Republicans think they should not do so. Independents are divided.
It is interesting how the Senate Democrats are now vowing to push relentless resolutions and amendments, after the Republicans were able to continue the filibuster on the non-binding Saturday vote. The Democrats are obviously looking at these polls, and are probably wondering just how far they can push resolutions backed with either cuts in war funding or caps on troop levels. It may not be the right time yet to push legislation to cut the Iraq war funding, however, both New York Senator Hillary Clinton, and Illinois Senator Barack Obama have both introduced legislation calling for caps on troop escalation and a phased plan for troop withdrawals. If there is going to be any pushing of resolutions and amendments, this is probably where the Senate Democrats are going to start. We might just see the caps on war funding starting to be introduced either in the summer or fall, depending on whether the American public starts demanding such caps in the poll results.
There are some more interesting numbers to report on the CBS News poll. The first is that 59 percent of the American public believes that the Iraq war will lead to an even greater war in the Middle East--up from 35 percent in April 2003. In addition, a majority of Americans, 71 percent, believe that Iran is not a military threat. This certainly contradicts the Bush administration's PR-spin of Iran being a dangerous enemy to the U.S. President Bush's overall job approval ratings have increased slightly up to 32 percent--up from 28 percent in January. However, his December 2006 job approval ratings were at 31 percent. So a third of the country pretty much supports Bush now--that's his base.
Now for the second poll from AP-Ipsos. This is from a February 16, 2007 MSNBC News story:
WASHINGTON - President Bush faces widespread opposition to the troop buildup in Iraq, though he has gained support over the past month, an AP-Ipsos poll found.
The president has nudged support for the troop increase to 35 percent from 26 percent in early January. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed still oppose the increase.
The increased support came from some of Bush's core supporters -- Republicans, men, whites, suburbanites and people with higher incomes.
[....]
Two-thirds of those questioned oppose cutting money for the troops and 60 percent are against cutting money intended just for the additional troops.
Nearly half of Democrats oppose cutting money for the additional troops and almost two-thirds of those who know someone who has served in Iraq oppose that idea.
Democrats are considering how to pressure Bush to scale back military efforts in Iraq. They are wary of the political risks of cutting money, which could invite charges that they do not support the troops.
The poll of 1,002 adults was taken Monday through Thursday and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The results of the AP-Ipsos poll can also be views through USA Today here.
I will be honest, I'm not sure if this 9 percent increase in American support for the Bush surge plan is a "bump," or if it is a sustainable number. I checked over at The Polling Report for the AP-Ipsos poll numbers:
"Would you favor or oppose sending more troops to Iraq?"
2/12-15/07.....35% Favor.....63% Oppose.....2% Unsure
1/8-10/07......26% Favor.....70% Oppose.....4% Unsure
The numbers in the AP-Ipsos poll are similar to the numbers on the CBS News poll:
Should U.S. send 20,000 more troops to Iraq?
Now........33% Favor.....63% Oppose
1/2007.....29% Favor.....66% Oppose
The only difference between the two polls here is that the CBS News poll did not report the number of unsure respondents in the poll. In the January CBS News poll, there was about 5 percent unsure respondents to the question of the U.S. sending 20,000 troops to Iraq. In the current CBS News poll, there was about 4 percent of unsure respondents on that question. But when you look a the AP-Ipsos poll, the number of unsure respondents dropped from 4 percent in the January poll number to 2 percent in the February poll number. That is a difference of 2 percentage points. Is that enough to skewer the AP-Ipsos results? I'm not sure. There is no difference in the way the question was worded between the February 2007 AP-Ipsos poll, and the January 2007 AP-Ipsos poll. It is an interesting anomaly here.
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