New Poll: A majority of Americans oppose Afghan War

Jason Ditz comments on a recent national poll that confirms growing American opposition against the Afganistan war/occupation. He suggests that the opposition is based on "war exhaustion," that is, that US troops have been in Afghanistan for nearly nine years without being any closer to winning the war. Growing opposition to the war/occupation also has something to do perhaps with the lack of a clear and convincing objective and strategy, the huge and rising costs of the war, the high rate of unemployment in the U.S. and a long-list of unmet domestic needs, and an ever-rising national debt.

Poll Shows Growing Opposition to Afghan War
Posted By Jason Ditz On August 20, 2010
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/08/20/poll-shows-growing-opposition-to-afghan-war

Just weeks after a USA Today/Gallup poll showed support for the Afghan War was plummeting, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows the trend continuing, with 58 percent of Americans now firmly opposed to the war, the worst such toll in the well publicized poll since the 2001 US invasion.

The poll also showed that less than 1 in 5 Americans, only 19%, expect the war to get any better in the next year. When President Obama announced the escalation in December, 31% of Americans expected progress.

All of the questioned showed a trend toward greater opposition to the war and greater pessimism about the war. It seems that, nearly nine years after the US invasion, war exhaustion is driving Americans to increasingly call for a pullout.

The poll showed that Americans largely approve of the idea of withdrawing troops from Iraq, though the validity of this question must be in doubt as it was couched in terms of support or opposition for President Obama’s mythical end to the war this month. The poll did show about two thirds of Americans oppose of the Iraq War, however.

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