Rasmussen: For First Time Iraq War Will Be Judged A Success
U.S. Army Staff Sgt Allan Triplett tests his muscles during an arm wrestling competition while bonding with local Iraqis outside an eatery in Ula Market in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 24, 2008. Triplett is assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Cohen A. Young.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
For the first time since Rasmussen Reports began polling on the issue, a plurality of voters in September say the U.S. mission in Iraq will be viewed as a success in the long term.
In a national telephone survey Monday night, 41% said history will rate the war in Iraq a success versus 39% who said it will be seen as a failure, with 20% undecided. These findings echo those of the previous two weeks.
By contrast, in August of last year, 57% believed history would judge the U.S. mission in Iraq a failure, and only 29% disagreed.
Nearly half of voters (48%) also believe the situation in Iraq will get better in the next six months versus 22% who believe it will get worse. Twenty-three percent (23%) expect things to stay about the same. The number of those who see the situation getting better has been steadily rising throughout the summer as violence has gone down in the war-torn country.
Consistent with surveys since mid-July, 55% of voters now believe the United States and its allies are winning the war on terror, while 21% say the terrorists are winning. For 18%, it’s a draw.
Similarly, 46% say the United States is safer today than before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, but 34% disagree.
(An Iraqi Army Soldier hands out school supplies to children at the al-Abbas School in al-Imam, Babil province, Sept. 25, 2008. Photo by Jacob Brown)
President Bush, however, is not a beneficiary of the more optimistic findings. He is given good or excellent marks for his handling of the Iraq situation by 29% and rated poor by 49% of voters. These numbers have been generally the same for months.
The partisan gap on these questions is enormous. Seventy-three percent (73%) of Republicans say the U.S. mission in Iraq will be viewed as a success in the long-term, but only 16% of Democrats agree. Unaffiliated voters are evenly divided.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of Republicans say the situation in Iraq will get better in the next six months versus 23% of Democrats. Just over half of unaffiliated voters (51%) think the situation will improve.
Eighty percent (80%) of Republicans say the United States and its allies are winning the war on terror, but only 36% of Democrats agree, as do 52% of unaffiliateds. While 75% of GOP voters say America is safer today than before 9/11, just 24% of Democrats feel that way. A plurality of unaffiliated voters (44%) agree.
As for Bush, 58% of Republicans give him good or excellent marks, while only 12% of those in his own party rate him poor. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Democrats - and 54% of unaffiliated voters - say Bush is doing a poor job.
(Pictures via MNF - Iraq)
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