To some, the poll question, "Do you support the war?" can seem a bit like code for, "Are you a patriot?" I'm never too sure what to think of the results of such poll questions. I wonder, what would the responses be if we quizzed America beyond the binary constructs of support and opposition?
According to the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, the responses to such quizzing would reflect considerable disagreement with Bush on the war. Here's how PIPA summarizes their survey results:
Majority Believes US Acted on Incorrect Assumptions in Rush to War
Does Not Believe Evidence on Iraqi WMD, Al Qaeda Links, Human Rights, Met Proper Standards for Going to War
Believes Bush Was Determined to Go to War Irrespective of Evidence
No Clear Consensus For or Against Decision to Go To War
Support for Iraq Reconstruction Undaunted
Be sure to read the full
press release, if not the
entire results, because the opinions found in this survey are very interesting and far too nuanced to summarize, but here's just the tip of the iceberg:
55% believe that the Bush administration went to war on the basis of incorrect assumptions.
87% said that, before the war, the Bush administration portrayed Iraq as an imminent threat...
...but 58% believes that the administration did not have evidence for this...
...and only 42% believe that this was true.
61% said that the US should have taken more time to find out if Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
59% said the US should have taken more time to build international support.
Again, there's lots, lots more. You'll have to read it.