President Obama meets with troops in Iraq in April, 2009 (White House photo)
ORC for CNN (PDF). December 16-18, 2011. American adults. ±3%.
Do you approve or disapprove of the decision to remove all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of this year?
Approve: 78
Disapprove: 21
And by a wide margin, Americans believe the Bush administration deliberately misled us into war:
Do you think the Bush administration deliberately misled the American public about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, or not?
Yes, deliberately misled: 57
No, did not: 41
Most Americans said they believed the war in Iraq was a mistake, and a majority called it a "dumb" war—the same word Barack Obama used when he opposed it from the very beginning. Moreover, slightly more then 70% said they believed money spent on the war was "one reason for economic problems" facing the nation today.
But even as Americans applaud President Obama bringing the war to an end, Mitt Romney is busy defending the ill-fated decision to invade. Assuming Romney gets the nomination, let's not forget that this difference—the fact that President Obama opposed the war from the beginning while Mitt Romney is still defending it—is every bit as powerful a reason to support President Obama as is the fact that under his leadership, Osama bin Laden was brought to justice.