As both
Ruy Teixeria and
Chris Bowers have discussed, the bottom has dropped out of the support for our staying in Iraq. Since the last time Harris asked the question, 12% more Americans, fully 59%, now believe we should bring our troops home. Bowers points out:
The important point about this poll is that all other questions except this one did not significantly change. In other words, this is not an outlier, and the public wants to withdraw within the next year. In fact, considering the lack of movement among other questions, much of the newfound support for withdrawal must be coming from those who believe the invasion was the right thing to do.
An interesting and unexpected phenomenon seems to have occurred. With the successful Iraqi elections and Bush's quick moves to take political advantage of them, I had expected support for the occupation to be bolstered, at least in the short run. However, the opposite seems to have occurred. With an elected regime now in power, Americans seem now to believe that what happens in Iraq is no longer our responsibility. Personally, I'm not so sure I fully agree with them, but nevertheless, that is what they seem to believe at this point. If current trends hold, the administration could be in a lot of trouble in the coming year.
Perhaps the scariest thing from the administration's perspective would have to be that the very fundementals of support for the last rationale for the Iraq War, Spreading Democracy, seems to be falling apart. The latest AP/IPSOS poll shows that 53% of Americans now believe that it is not our place to spread Democracy to other countries.