Americans Confident That Obama Will Choose Right Afghan Option

Fifty-five percent of Americans are confident that President Obama, after months of deliberations, will come up with a strategy for Afghanistan that will succeed compared to 43 percent who do not believe that, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted Nov. 12-15. More than three-quarters of Democrats hold that view. Independents are split with 50 percent saying they are not confident and 49 percent saying they are; Republicans cast their votes of no-confidence by a 66 percent to 33 percent margin.

While the public may have confidence in Obama on this challenge, 52 percent say the war has not been worth fighting compared to 44 percent who say it is, with 4 percent undecided.

Other organizations have seen a negative turn on U.S. involvement in Afghanistan in their latest surveys. Quinnipiac University came up with a different result than that of the Post/ABC poll on whether the war is worth fighting, saying voters believed it was by 48 percent to 41 percent -- down from a 52 percent to 37 percent margin last month. (Quinnipiac's question was worded somewhat differently: it asked whether the U.S. was doing the right thing by fighting in Afghanistan)

A CBS News poll this week reported that 69 percent of Americans thought the U.S. effort in Afghanistan was going badly compared to 23 percent who said it was going well, up from the 53 percent to 35 percent margin in September.

On the question of additional troops for Afghanistan, 46 percent favor sending a larger number of U.S. troops to fight al-Qaeda and the Taliban as well as training the Afghan military; 45 percent want to send a smaller number who would concentrate on training, and 5 percent want no change or a pullout. Sixty-one percent of Obama's fellow Democrats fall into the smaller number category. Independents favor the larger number option by 48 percent to 41 percent and Republicans do so by 65 percent to 28 percent.

The Quinnipiac poll said voters support sending the additional 40,000 troops requested by Obama's generals by 47 percent to 42 percent.