Poll: Most Americans Opposed to Bush's Iraq Plan

This is not good for the Bush White House. This is from the Washington Post:

A majority of Americans oppose sending additional troops to Iraq as outlined by President Bush in his nationally televised address Wednesday night, and just one-in-three Americans said the plan for more troops and a stepped up combat efforts by Iraqi forces make victory there more likely, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The findings of the survey, conducted after Bush's primetime speech, represent an initial rebuke to the White House goal of generating additional public support for the mission in Iraq. The poll found that 61 percent of Americans oppose sending more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq, with 52 percent saying they strongly oppose the plan. Just 36 percent said they back the president's new proposal.

Bush fared better among the 42 percent of Americans who actually watched the speech. Among that group, 47 percent support sending more troops, while 51 percent oppose. But the President's supporters were disproportionately represented among the audience.

The American public flat-out rejected Bush's proposed surge plan. Not much more I can say about that. But here is an interesting detail:

Congressional Democrats strongly oppose the plan to send more troops and are weighing a series of steps to confront the president, with some advocating action to deny funding for the additional brigades being sent to Iraq. On that issue, the Post-ABC News poll found that 53 percent of Americans support Democrats' efforts to cut off funds for additional troops, with 44 percent opposed.

We are now starting to see a majority of Americans supporting Democratic efforts to cut back funding for additional troops. This is going to embolden the Democratic majority in Congress to confront the Bush administration on the Iraq war, just as the Democrats have started grilling both Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condi Rice. And if the polls continue to sour on Bush, we're going to see even more confrontation between a besieged Bush White House, and an angry Democratic Congress.

Let the fireworks begin.

Here are the details of the WaPost-ABC News poll.