More Than One-Third, However, Believe the Surge is Not Working
ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With the surge of
troops that is sending 25,000 additional soldiers to Iraq fully underway,
41 percent of adults believe it is still too early to tell if that effort
is working. More than one-third (38%), however, believe that the surge is
not working and just nine percent say it is working. Not surprisingly, the
political party one identifies with changes perceptions of this issue;
almost three in five (59%) Democrats say the surge is not working while
just 13 percent of Republicans feel this way. Republicans do not
overwhelmingly indicate the surge is working, however. While 19 percent of
them say it is working, over half (56%) of Republicans say it is too early
to tell.
These are some of the results of a Harris Poll of 2,383 adults surveyed
online between May 8 and 14, 2007 by Harris Interactive(R).
This new poll also updates some of the trends the Harris Poll has been
keeping on Iraq over the past few years. Overall, while attitudes on Iraq
are very pessimistic, they have gone very slightly up since March. Some of
the recent findings include:
- Three in ten adults (30%) give President George W. Bush positive marks
on his handling of the issue of Iraq over the last several months
while two-thirds (67%) give him negative marks. This is slightly up
from March when 27 percent gave the President positive marks compared
to 71 percent who gave him negative ratings;
- Over one-third (36%) say taking military action against Iraq was the
right thing to do while 45 percent believe it was the wrong thing to
do. This is almost unchanged since March when 34 percent believe
taking military action was the right thing and 46 percent believed it
was the wrong thing to do; and
- In March, half of adults (51%) believed the situation for troops in
Iraq was getting worse, while just 13 percent said it was getting
better and 28 percent said there was no real change. These numbers
went up slightly this month as 45 percent believe the situation for
the troops in Iraq is getting worse and 18 percent believe it is
getting better. Three in ten (29%) say there has been no real change
for the troops.
The number of people who would like the US government to withdraw all
troops now has stayed the same (20% both in March and this month). What has
changed is the number of those who want to set a timetable. When we first
started asking this question in November of last year, half of adults (51%)
thought this is what the government should do. In January and March, 44
percent of adults felt this was the correct option. This month that number
continues to drop and now 40 percent believe the U.S. should set a
timetable for withdrawal. Over one-quarter (28%) believe we should send
more troops to Iraq for a few months to stabilize the situation and this is
slightly up from the 25 percent who believed this was the correct course of
action in March.
TABLE 1
LIKELY IMPACT OF SENDING MORE TROOPS TO IRAQ
"What do you think of the so-called 'surge',
that is the sending of 25,000 more troops into Iraq?"
Base: All Adults
Party ID
Total Republican Democrat Independent
% % % %
It is working 9 19 1 8
It is not working 38 13 59 42
It is too early to tell 41 56 30 43
Not sure 12 12 10 8
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.
TABLE 2
RATING OF PRESIDENT BUSH - HANDLING OF IRAQ
"Overall, how would you rate the job President Bush has done in handling the
issue of Iraq over the last several months?"
Base: All Adults
2003
March April May July Sept Nov
% % % % % %
Positive (NET) 56 67 63 49 47 41
Excellent 29 38 34 21 16 15
Pretty good 27 29 28 29 31 26
Negative (NET) 43 32 36 50 51 58
Only fair 16 15 18 22 19 19
Poor 27 17 18 28 32 38
Not sure 1 1 1 1 2 1
2004
Jan March April May June July Sept Dec
% % % % % % % %
Positive (NET) 51 49 43 42 41 39 41 42
Excellent 20 18 15 13 13 15 14 12
Pretty good 31 31 29 29 27 24 27 30
Negative (NET) 46 49 55 56 58 58 58 57
Only fair 20 19 18 18 19 17 17 19
Poor 26 30 37 39 39 40 41 37
Not sure 2 2 2 2 1 3 2 2
2005
Jan March May July Sept Dec
% % % % % %
Positive (NET) 39 42 37 34 34 29
Excellent 13 18 13 11 10 9
Pretty good 26 24 24 23 24 20
Negative (NET) 59 56 61 64 65 68
Only fair 17 20 19 20 18 17
Poor 42 36 42 44 46 52
Not sure 2 2 2 2 2 2
2006
Jan March May Sept Nov
% % % % %
Positive (NET) 36 30 29 32 26
Excellent 12 8 9 9 7
Pretty good 25 21 20 23 20
Negative (NET) 61 68 68 64 71
Only fair 20 20 21 22 21
Poor 41 48 47 42 50
Not sure 3 3 3 4 2
2007
Jan March May
% % %
Positive (NET) 26 27 30
Excellent 7 7 7
Pretty good 19 20 23
Negative (NET) 70 71 67
Only fair 22 21 22
Poor 49 49 45
Not sure 3 3 3
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.
TABLE 3
MILITARY ACTION - RIGHT OR WRONG THING TO DO
"Thinking about everything that has happened, do you think that taking
military action against Iraq was the right or wrong thing to do?"
Base: All Adults
2003
Sept Nov
% %
Right thing 55 49
Wrong thing 32 37
Not sure 13 13
2004
Jan Feb March April May June July Sept Dec
% % % % % % % % %
Right thing 55 52 51 49 47 44 43 43 43
Wrong thing 31 34 33 37 38 42 42 43 43
Not sure 15 14 16 14 14 14 15 13 14
2005
Jan March May July Oct Dec
% % % % % %
Right thing 39 41 39 38 34 35
Wrong thing 46 45 48 49 53 53
Not sure 15 15 13 14 13 12
2006
Jan March May Sept Nov
% % % % %
Right thing 40 37 38 39 36
Wrong thing 46 48 47 44 46
Not sure 13 15 15 17 18
2007
Jan March May
% % %
Right thing 37 34 36
Wrong thing 46 46 45
Not sure 17 19 19
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding
TABLE 4
SITUATION FOR U.S. TROOPS - GETTING BETTER OR WORSE
"Do you think that the situation for U.S. troops in Iraq is ... ?"
Base: All Adults
2004
Jan Feb March April May June July Sept Dec
% % % % % % % % %
Getting better 24 22 24 9 11 19 18 15 18
Getting worse 36 38 38 64 65 49 45 54 50
No real change 31 31 30 20 19 26 30 26 25
Not sure 8 9 8 6 5 6 7 6 6
2005
Jan March May July Sept Dec
% % % % % %
Getting better 13 21 21 17 19 20
Getting worse 53 41 39 44 43 43
No real change 28 33 34 35 33 32
Not sure 6 6 6 4 5 5
2006
Jan March May Sept Nov
% % % % %
Getting better 22 17 20 17 9
Getting worse 36 46 43 45 58
No real change 35 32 31 31 27
Not sure 7 6 5 7 6
2007
Jan March May
% % %
Getting better 13 13 18
Getting worse 55 51 46
No real change 26 28 29
Not sure 7 8 8
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.
TABLE 5
ACTIONS US SHOULD TAKE CONCERNING TROOPS
"Which of the following would you like to see the US government undertake with
regard to Iraq?"
Base: All Adults
2006 2007
Nov Jan March May
% % % %
Withdraw all troops now 18 20 20 20
Set a timetable for withdrawal 51 44 44 40
Send more troops to Iraq for a
few months to stabilize the situation 19 27 25 28
Not sure 12 9 11 12
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.
Methodology
This Harris Poll(R) was conducted online within the United States
between May 8 and 14, 2007 among 2,383 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures
for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were
weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual
proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to
adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.
All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability
sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not
possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error,
error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording
and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore,
Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are
misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling
errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples
with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published
polls come close to this ideal.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have
agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been
weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the
sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris
Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be
calculated.
These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the
National Council on Public Polls.
J30886
Q502, 505, 510, 515, 520
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is the 12th largest and fastest-growing market
research firm in the world. The company provides innovative research,
insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident
decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in
performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of
the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online
market research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the
world's largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris
Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe and
Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiaries Novatris in France and
MediaTransfer AG in Germany, and through a global network of independent
market research firms. More information about Harris Interactive may be
obtained at http://www.harrisinteractive.com.
To become a member of the Harris Poll Online and be invited to
participate in online surveys, register at http://www.harrispollonline.com.
Press Contact:
Tracey McNerney
Harris Interactive
585-214-7756
Harris Interactive Inc. 05/07
The Harris Poll #44, May 23, 2007
By Regina Corso, Director, The Harris Poll
SOURCE Harris Interactive
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Related links:
http://www.harrisinteractive.com
http://www.harrispollonline.com
CONTACT:
Tracey McNerney, Harris Interactive,
+1-585-214-7756
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