Public Opinion of Iraq War Improves

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has published new survey findings concerning the war in Iraq. The survey results, published under the title "Public Sees Progress in War Effort," are available on the Pew Research Center's web site.

According to the survey, almost 50 percent of Americans polled for the study had a positive outlook about recent developments in Iraq. Pew Research Center data indicate that an increasing percentage of American citizens believe that military operations in Iraq are leading to progress in cutting the number of Iraqi civilian deaths, fighting those responsible for the violence, and avoiding what recently looked like an inevitable civil war between Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites. The Pew Center says that opinions about the state of the Iraq war have continued to grow more positive since President Bush's surge of American troops began to yield results. The percentage of those who believed the war was going fairly well or very well jumped to 48 percent from 34 percent just five months ago.

Despite the improved opinions of Americans, though, there has not been a rise in the level of support for keeping American troops in Iraq, the Pew Center notes. A majority of Americans want U.S. forces to begin coming home sooner rather than later, the survey finds, with 54 percent of those polled saying troop redeployments are more important than waiting for Iraq to stabilize. Another interesting finding of the survey was that those polled were split about the likelihood of the United States reaching its stated objectives in Saddam Hussein's former empire.

According to the survey, the more positive outlooks on Iraq are not limited by political party affiliation. The survey found that nearly three quarters of Republicans say the war effort is going well, and that the number of Democrats expressing that view has increased twofold since February, from 16 percent to 33 percent. For independents, the number was listed as 41 percent, up from 26 percent in February of this year.