CBS News Poll On Iraq

[steven]

In a newly released CBS News poll taken between July 29th and August 2nd, The President’s approval level remains below 50%, and Americans are still divided over the war in Iraq. They are paying attention to one of the summer’s major news stories – the possible 2003 leak to reporters of the identity of CIA covert agent Valerie Plame – in fact, the story has captured a level of attention from the public similar to the early stages of political scandals such as Whitewater, the Democrats' 1996 fundraising, and Iran Contra.

THE PLAME INVESTIGATION

Americans are skeptical about the Bush Administration’s behavior and public statements about the 2003 leak of the name of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame to reporters. Only 12% think the Bush Administration is telling the entire truth about the matter; more than half -- 55% -- think the Administration is mostly telling the truth but hiding something, and another 22% think it is lying.

Many Republicans doubt the Administration is telling all it knows to the public. 57% of Republicans think the Administration is hiding something or lying -- although 28% think it is telling the entire truth. Democrats are much more skeptical.

As for responsibility for the leak, just over half of Americans think it was someone in the Bush Administration. 21% think it was not someone in the Administration. However, about a quarter don’t know.

KARL ROVE
Three quarters of Americans have no opinion of George W. Bush’s Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who has been named as one member of the Administration who spoke with reporters during the period when the leak occurred. Those who do have an opinion of Rove see him more negatively than positively. 8% have a favorable view of him, while 16% are unfavorable. Most Republicans are unable to state an opinion of Rove, but more Republicans (20%) than Democrats (1%) have a favorable view.

THE WAR IN IRAQ
Americans are divided on what effect, if any, the war in Iraq has had on the ability of Al Qaeda to launch new terrorist attacks. And while slightly more than half now view Iraq as at least a minor part of the broader war against terrorism and nearly two-thirds believe the U.S. is likely to succeed there, six in ten say the war was not worth the loss of American life and other costs.

Just 34% say the war with Iraq was worth the loss of American life and other costs; 59% say it was not. These views have been virtually unchanged since April 2004.

THE ECONOMY
57% now rate the nation’s economy as very or fairly good -- up slightly since June. 42% think the economy is in bad shape. Still, the public expresses concern; 32% think the economy is getting worse, while fewer, 20%, think it is improving.

BUSH’S JOB APPROVALS
45%

[biker]

"CBS reports the poll, its analysis, structure and raw data were all supplied by the Dan Rather Forged Documents Project.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, Rather said "No one can prove to my satisfaction that this poll is not right."

Judith Miller refused to state whether she did or did not reveal Rather's association with the poll.

[Linda_D]

Here's a different poll with similar results:


Poll: Bush's Iraq rating at low point
Opinion of president's honesty also sinks

Friday, August 5, 2005; Posted: 11:41 a.m. EDT (15:41 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans' approval of President Bush's handling of Iraq is at its lowest level yet, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that also suggests fewer than half now think he is honest.

A solid majority still see Bush as a strong and likable leader, though the poll indicates the president's confidence is seen as arrogance by a growing number.

Approval of Bush's handling of Iraq, which had been hovering in the low- to mid-40s most of the year, dipped to 38 percent. Midwesterners and young women and men with a high school education or less were most likely to disapprove of Bush on his handling of Iraq in the past six months.

American troops have suffered heavy casualties in Iraq this month. On Wednesday, 14 Marines were killed in the Euphrates River valley in the worst roadside bombing targeting Americans since the war began in March 2003.

On Monday, seven Marines were killed, six of whom died in a gun battle near Haditha in western Iraq.

William Anderson, a retired Republican from Fort Worth, Texas, said Bush "has the right intentions, but he's going about them the wrong way."

"Iraq is one of the issues that everybody has a problem with," Anderson said. "There are some big discussions about it around town. Everybody's got their agreements and disagreements. It seems like there's no end. Is it going to end up another Vietnam?"

If worries about Iraq continue, they could become a major issue in the 2006 midterm congressional races, and if the war is still going in 2008, they could be a factor in the presidential race.

Bush's overall job approval was at 42 percent, with 55 percent disapproving. That is about where Bush's approval has been all summer but slightly lower than at the beginning of the year.

The portion of respondents who consider Bush honest has dropped slightly from January, when 53 percent described him that way while 45 percent did not. Now, people are just about evenly split on that issue -- with 48 percent saying he is honest and 50 percent saying he is not.

The drop in the number of people who see Bush as honest was largest among middle-aged Americans as well as suburban women, a key voting group in the 2004 election. A further erosion of trust could make it tougher for Bush to win support for his policies in Congress and internationally.

"The reason that trust is so important has to do with the long-standing belief that you could trust him, even if you don't always agree with him and don't understand what he's doing," said Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas. "The honesty dip is partly caused by a loss of faith in his credibility on Iraq."

The president said Thursday from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, that threats from al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, "make it clear that Iraq is a part of this war on terror, and we're at war."

Bush pledged to "complete this job in Iraq."

Almost two-thirds in the poll described Bush as strong and likable.

"He's a man of character," said Cheryl Cheyney, a school bus driver from Cumming, Georgia, and a Republican. "He's very honest in the things he says. I agree with his belief system, the way he believes in God and is not afraid to show it. That's very important to me."

But the portion of respondents who view his confidence as arrogance has increased from 49 percent in January to 56 percent now.

"This country is a monarchy," said Charles Nuutinen, a 62-year-old independent from Greenville, Wisconsin. "He's turning this country into Saudi Arabia. He does what he wants. He doesn't care what the people want."

Six in 10 surveyed said they think the country is headed down the wrong track, despite some encouraging economic news in recent weeks.

"Iraq is just a great weight holding down perceptions of an economy that is quite robust," said Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. "Whenever you have troops in harm's way, people are anxious about things in general."

Ipsos, an international polling firm, conducted the poll of 1,000 adults between August 1-3. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

AP-IPSOS Poll (http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/05/bush.ap.ipsospoll.ap/index.html)

[atotaltotalfan2001]

Thought you all might find this interesting.....




http://www.usatoday.com/news/polls/tables/live/2005-05-23-poll.htm?POE=click-refer

[atotaltotalfan2001]

Also, this was in Editor and Publisher recently:

In an intersting sidelight, the Gallup organization provided results from past polls showing how the public viewed the Vietnam War while it was still underway, contrasting this with the current view that 50% of Americans feel it was a mistake to invade Iraq.

This chart showed that the share of Americans who believed it was mistake to send troops to Vietnam did not reach 50% until August 1968, three years into the heavy U.S. troop involvement in Vietnam, meaning the criticism of the Iraq decision is a year ahead of that schedule.

[biker]

Equating Iraq with Vietnam and Jane Fonda on the road again.

The agenda of the left is obvious and pathetic.

[Linda_D]

Originally posted by biker
"CBS reports the poll, its analysis, structure and raw data were all supplied by the Dan Rather Forged Documents Project.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, Rather said "No one can prove to my satisfaction that this poll is not right."

Judith Miller refused to state whether she did or did not reveal Rather's association with the poll.


Originally posted by biker
Equating Iraq with Vietnam and Jane Fonda on the road again.

The agenda of the left is obvious and pathetic.

What's obvious, biker, is that when it comes to GWB, you "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil", even to the point of accepting completely unsubstaniated claims of bloggers and self-proclaimed "intelligence experts" with vague credentials and ulterior motives while dismissing legitimate news reports as being wrong because of "liberal bias".

[avet]

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview released overnight that the insurgency in Iraq is "losing steam" while "rather quiet political progress" remains on track there.

"LOOSING STEAM" ???
ALL I SEE ARE POOR, HONORABLE, ORDINARY, HARD WORKING CITIZENS ..."LOOSING LIVES"!


The first seven days of this month has seen 33 US deaths.

ARE ANY OF THEM THE CHILDREN OF THE "RICH" ...FLAG WAVERS, SCREAMING "FOR" THE WAR ?

ANY SONS\DAUGHTERS ETC. OF : BUSH'S, CHENEY, RUMSFIELD, RICE, DELAY, COULTER, ANY WAR MONGERING POLITICIAN'S KIDS ....."WHATSOEVER"?

WEVE BEEN THERE MORE THAN SEVERAL YEARS - PAYING "MULTI MEGA-BILLIONS" OF OUR TAX MONEY TO NO-BID COMPANIES TO ....
-----"REBUILD IRAQ"------

WHERE'S THE FREEKIN' MONEY GOING ????


SAMAWA, Iraq (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iraqis angry at poor public services rioted in the town of Samawa south of Baghdad on Sunday and police opened fire on the crowd, killing one person and wounding 40, hospital sources and witnesses said.
THEY WERE PROTESTING BECAUSE OF A LACK OF .... "WATER & ELECTRICITY".

THE "NO-BID" COMPANIES ARE FULLY "PROTECTED" & TOTALLY "NON-ACCOUNTABLE" TO ANYONE IN ANY WAY! BILLIONS JUST "MISSING" - "UNACCOUNTED" FOR.

WHISTLEBLOWING WILL ...."NOT BE TOLORATED" IN ANY FASHION!!

MANY "GOOD LIVES" & TON'S OF MONEY ..."VANISHED"!

MONEY - WE CAN ALWAYS PRINT MORE.
"GOOD LIVES" - ARE FOR ...ETERNITY".

----- "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" (for whom?) -----

______________________________________________

PEACE "WILL" COME....CAUSE I HEARD "SANTA CLAUSE" IS BRINGING IT.

[atotaltotalfan2001]

Originally posted by biker
Equating Iraq with Vietnam and Jane Fonda on the road again.

The agenda of the left is obvious and pathetic.


Huh?

Is that supposed to make sense?

[atotaltotalfan2001]

Originally posted by Linda_D
What's obvious, biker, is that when it comes to GWB, you "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil", even to the point of accepting completely unsubstaniated claims of bloggers and self-proclaimed "intelligence experts" with vague credentials and ulterior motives while dismissing legitimate news reports as being wrong because of "liberal bias".

Biker should have read the detailed polls from USA Today I posted.

Most of them show Bush losing steam on important issues (and that the public was narrowly divided to begin with). But there was some interesting stuff in there that right-wing types like Biker could take heart in.

[Linda_D]

Originally posted by atotaltotalfan2001
Biker should have read the detailed polls from USA Today I posted.

Most of them show Bush losing steam on important issues (and that the public was narrowly divided to begin with). But there was some interesting stuff in there that right-wing types like Biker could take heart in.

Biker already knows all he needs to know from reading "alternate news sources" (ie, blogs) so he doesn't bother with polls from the "liberal media".

[atotaltotalfan2001]

Originally posted by Linda_D
Biker already knows all he needs to know from reading "alternate news sources" (ie, blogs) so he doesn't bother with polls from the "liberal media".


Good point.

[WestSideJohn]

The agenda of the left is obvious and pathetic.You're right. The goal of stopping wars based on false premises <i>is</i> obvious. As for it being pathetic, well, maybe to Halliburton shareholders, but not to our military personnel and their families.