It sounds as if the White House has started to make some headway in terms of support for the Iraq war — although it has a long way to go:
USA TODAY’s Susan Page reports that President Bush is making some headway in arguing that the increase in U.S. troops in Iraq is showing military progress.
In the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, taken Friday through Sunday, the proportion of those who said the additional troops are “making the situation better” rose to 31% from 22% a month ago. Those who said it was “not making much difference” dropped to 41% from 51%.
Polls are usually like see saws, but most Iraq war support polls recently have headed one way: south. So this is a sign that Bush has convinced some Americans to be more patient on the war. MORE:
About the same number said it was making things worse: 24% now, 25% a month ago.
The number of those who favor removing virtually all U.S. troops from Iraq by next April 1 has dropped a bit, though two-thirds of those surveyed still support the idea.
The overall trend is what’s going to matter. Will other polls show support going up? And what part of Bush’s constituency is this renewed support coming from? Republicans? Democrats? Independents? No answers yet — but this poll does indicate (for the time being, at least) a reversal of a trend.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.