http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44887-2003Mar18.html Poll: Support for Bush, War Grows
By Richard Morin and Claudia Deane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 18, 2003; 8:05 AM
Americans have rallied strongly around President Bush and accepted his call for war with Iraq as the only practical way to remove Saddam Hussein and end the threat posed by his weapons of mass destruction, according to a Washington Post-ABC News Poll conducted last night.
Seven in 10 said they supported Bush's televised call to go to war without the blessing of the United Nations unless Saddam Hussein and his sons leave Iraq within 48 hours.
An equally large majority believe that Bush has done enough to win support from other nations. More than two in three said his policies on Iraq are the right ones, although fewer than half are strongly convinced.
The public's preference for a U.N.-endorsed war also has faded into the background following the collapse of efforts by the United States and its allies to win support for a second war resolution in the U.N. Security Council. Three in four disapprove of the way the United Nations has handled the Iraqi crisis, up from slightly more than half three weeks ago.
But the anger shown in these poll numbers does not reflect a desire to withdraw from the international community or to punish France for successfully derailing the second U.N. resolution backing war.
Clear majorities want the United States to maintain current relations with both France and the United Nations. Only a third believe that the United States should punish France by withholding support and being less cooperative with the French government, and even fewer (one in five) say the United States should change its relationship with the United Nations.
While endorsing war, Americans also acknowledge its risks. Six in 10 believe that the threat of terrorism will increase in the short term -- a view that echoes the administration's decision yesterday to raise the terrorism threat warning from yellow to orange.
And they are divided on whether war with Iraq will reduce terrorism in the long run, a view at odds with Bush's justification that war with Iraq was necessary to reduce the threat of terrorism. Half of those interviewed -- 48 percent -- said the conflict would reduce terrorism in the long run, while four in 10 said it would increase the risk.
A total of 510 randomly selected adults were interviewed Monday night after Bush's speech. Margin of sampling error is plus or minus 5 percentage points. The practical difficulties of doing a survey in a single night represent other potential sources of error in this poll.
As at the start of previous confrontations abroad, the poll found that the country has largely united behind its president -- a unity that will be tested as the war unfolds and circumstances on the battlefield change.
Nearly two in three -- 64 percent -- said they approve of the way Bush is handling the confrontation with Saddam Hussein, up from 55 percent in an ABC News survey conducted last week.
Overall support for a war with Iraq also surged from 59 percent two weeks ago to 71 percent today. And the poll found equally broad support for beginning the war immediately after Bush's 48-hour deadline expires on Wednesday. At this point, roughly one in four Americans opposes the invasion.
The survey was conducted as diplomatic efforts collapsed and the United States began making final preparations to begin a war that most of the world now believes is inevitable.
Seven in 10 rejected giving amnesty to Hussein or his sons for crimes they may have committed if they accept exile outside Iraq, a compromise plan suggested by some Middle Eastern leaders but not embraced by the Bush administration and already rejected by Hussein.
And an equally large majority -- 71 percent -- agrees with Bush that war is the only way to disarm Iraq, while about one in four believes there were other practical options.
The prospects of an imminent war with Iraq clearly have captured the public's attention. More than seven in 10 poll respondents reported watching or listening to at least portions of Bush's brief speech last night.
Respondents who reported having watched Bush's televised address were somewhat more likely to back the Iraqi invasion (77 percent, compared to 60 percent among those who had not seen the president's speech.)
The poll suggests that the increased support for war is largely due to Democrats coming around to the president's view. Currently, roughly six in 10 Democrats said they support an attack on Iraq, compared to about four in 10 in an early March poll. At the same time, however, nearly half said they disapproved of the way Bush has handled the conflict with Iraq.
Republicans remain nearly unanimous in their support for war: nine in 10 back the U.S.-led invasion, similar to polls conducted in recent weeks, and substantially higher than Democrats and political independents.
Confidence in Bush's policy also differs starkly by party. An overwhelming 96 percent of Republicans said they were at least fairly confident that Bush's Iraq policy is the right one, compared to 65 percent of independents and 53 percent of Democrats.
A majority of women now back the invasion of Iraq. Two thirds of those surveyed said they support a war with Iraq, compared to about half in a poll conducted two weeks ago. Eight in 10 men supported a war.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
