People in the United States appear skeptical about the military operation involving American soldiers in Afghanistan and—for the first time—are evenly divided on whether the war was the right course of action, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.
Only 47 per cent of respondents support the military operation—matching the low numbers from August.
People in the United States appear skeptical about the military operation involving American soldiers in Afghanistan and—for the first time—are evenly divided on whether the war was the right course of action, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,003 American adults, 47 per cent of respondents express support for the operation (unchanged since August), while 45 per cent (+3) oppose it.
The Mission
The proportion of people in the United States who think that engaging the military in Afghanistan was a mistake remains at 37 per cent.
Now, the same proportion of respondents (37%) feels that the U.S. did the right thing in deploying soldiers to Afghanistan, down seven points since February.
Half of respondents (51%) claim that they do not know what war in Afghanistan is all about, whereas 49 per cent say they do.
When the War is Over
While more than a third of respondents (35%) are undecided when asked about the future of Afghanistan, only one-in-five (19%) expect a clear military victory by U.S. and allied forces over the Taliban. Fewer respondents (6%) believe the Taliban will defeat U.S. and allied forces, and 12 per cent foresee a negotiated settlement from a position of U.S. and allied weakness that gives the Taliban a significant role in the Afghan government. Almost three-in-ten Americans (28%) think the war will end with a negotiated settlement from a position of U.S. and allied strength that gives the Taliban a small role in the Afghan government.
Obama’s Plan
The proportion of respondents who express little confidence in the administration of President Barack Obama to “finish the job” in Afghanistan dropped from 65 per cent in August to 59 per cent this month. Still, just about three-in-ten Americans (28%) express confidence in Obama.
The Media and the Government
One third of Americans (33%) believe the country’s media has not provided enough information about the war in Afghanistan, while a slightly smaller proportion (30%) say it has provided the right amount of information. Only 19 per cent of respondents think the media has focused too much on Afghanistan.
As was the case two months ago, 53 per cent of Americans believe the federal government has provided too little information about the war in Afghanistan. Considerably fewer respondents think the administration has provided the right amount of information (23%) or too much (9%).
Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)
Mario Canseco, Vice President, Communications & Media Relations
+877 730 3570
mario.canseco@angus-reid.com
Methodology: From October 15 to October 17, 2010, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 1,003 randomly selected American adults who are Springboard USA panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 3.1%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure samples representative of the entire adult population of the United States. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
