Analysis: Poll cuts Bush, Congress at war

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Most Americans remain opposed to the war and give both President Bush and Congress thumbs down on its Iraq war effort, according to a new UPI-Zogby Interactive poll.

The results were released this week as top U.S. officials in Iraq go before Congress this week to report the status of the war effort. Congress is expected to debate war bills beginning next week.

Respondents’ confidence in the Democratic and Republican parties was split, 37.9 percent and 41.3 percent, respectively, with nearly 20 percent choosing “neither.” And 68.5 percent either strongly or somewhat disagree “the Bush administration can stabilize Iraq before the 2008 election.”

Of the nine Republican and seven Democratic candidates vying for the presidential nomination, former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., was ranked “most capable of bringing stability to Iraq” with 14.7 percent of respondents’ support. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., was second with 11.1 percent; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani third with 10 percent and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., fourth with 8.4 percent. “Not sure” received the most response with 21.3 percent.

Of the 7,102 U.S. adults polled, 53.8 percent either strongly oppose or somewhat oppose the Iraq war. The poll, with a margin of error of 1.2 percentage points, also found 55.1 percent gave President Bush a “poor” rating when asked to rate the president's performance in handling the Iraq war. Congress, however, was rated “poor” by 71.4 percent of respondents.

The poll found Americans were keeping tabs on the domestic political battle surrounding the war. Nearly 85 percent “plan on following the upcoming debate in Congress on Iraq” and 89.7 percent were either very or somewhat aware of Gen. David Petraeus’ report to Congress this week.

More than 81 percent said it is not very likely or not at all likely either the debate or report will change their opinion about the Iraq war.

When asked what they feel Congress should do, 42.5 percent said “give the president and the surge more time to work;” 35.2 percent “require the president to begin a phased withdrawal of troops”; and 16.9 percent “require the president to begin an immediate and full withdrawal of troops.”

If the violence in Iraq continues, however, 45.1 percent support a draw down in troops and 22.3 percent say boost the troop level. But most say the United States should not hand control to the United Nations, with 53.7 percent either somewhat or strongly disagreeing when asked if a handoff should occur.

On a broader scope, 42.1 percent of respondents ranked war in Iraq/peace/foreign policy as the top issue facing the United States today, with Terrorism/Security coming in second with 32.7 percent. Only 37.7 percent “strongly agree” the Iraq war is part of the war on terrorism; 36.8 “strongly disagree.”

The issues facing the world as a whole did not mirror U.S. issues, however, with Islamic radicalization taking the top concern at 47.7 percent, followed by global warming at 27.6 percent and oil supply/energy at 22.9 percent. The Iraq War was ranked the top issue facing the world by only 16 percent.

On a more personal level, 71.1 percent of respondents said they actually knew someone who has served in the Iraq war and 23.2 percent said they knew someone killed or injured in the war.

More than 2 million Iraqis have been forced to leave their country and seek refugee status, mostly in Syria and Jordan. When asked to guess how many Iraqi refugees have been allowed into the United States, 42.2 percent said more than 1,000 and 20.3 percent said between 501 and 1,000.

When told the actual number is about 466, 37.8 percent said it was “too few” and 13.5 percent said “too many.” Another 26.5 percent said it was “an adequate number” and 22.2 percent said “not sure.”

For Iraqis who have worked with the U.S. military, such as an interpreter, 76.5 percent strongly or somewhat agreed they should be granted asylum in the United States if they apply.