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Obama's Ratings on Iraq Up After Speech, but Most Believe War Will Go On

1 year ago
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Bruce Drake
Bruce Drake
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President Obama's poll numbers for his handling of Iraq have gone up following his Oval Office speech declaring the U.S. combat mission at an end, but an overwhelming majority of Americans believe the war wasn't worth fighting and the conflict in that country is not over, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted Sept. 1-2. (Story, poll).

Fifty-seven percent said they approved of Obama's handling of Iraq while 41 percent disapproved compared to mid-July when the public was split at 49 percent each.

Eighty percent believe the war is not over. The question is not clear as to whether that meant it was not over for the U.S. or the Iraqis. But presumably it means that Americans believe the war in Iraq will go on without American combat involvement since two-thirds say it is very or somewhat unlikely the Iraqi government will be able to maintain order.
Barack Obama(The question was: Based on what you have heard or read about the events in Iraq over the past few weeks, do you think that for all intents and purposes, the war in Iraq is over, or not?)

Only 4 percent considered the U.S. effort a victory and 1 percent said it was a defeat.

Forty percent say that U.S. combat troops should have been removed before now, 28 percent said this was the right time, 25 percent favored their removal but at a later date and 6 percent say troops should be there permanently.

Republican critics of Obama, most prominently Sarah Palin, faulted him for not giving former President Bush credit for the 2007 "surge" in which Bush committed 20,000 additional troops to help put down the insurgency in Iraq. Sixty percent said they regarded the surge as a success while 33 percent did not, with 7 percent undecided or of mixed opinions. That compared to July, 2008, when the margin considering the surge a success was 52 percent to 41 percent.

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Filed Under: Barack Obama, Iraq, Polls, Obama Administration, Poll Watch
Tagged: 2010 Election Polls, Bush Iraq surge, dailyguidance, Iraq surge, surge
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8 Comments

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jimegal

we need to get rid of pelosi, and obama---- do not see any improvements, he has spent more money than bush ever did, and he has never been in the service, or run a business, and just what does he know about running a country-----so far nothing, most of the people that voted for him are imbarassed. He behaves like a spoiled child when people have things to say about him that he does not like-----the media should just be honest and say what they really think, instead of being polite because he is the president------our country is not ever going to be better until we get rid of him.

September 07 2010 at 8:11 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mount carmine

For your information. since Obamas speach twenty two GIs has been killed in afganistan.so much for peace.

September 03 2010 at 8:32 PM Report abuse +6 rate up rate down Reply
jspe7

Wow, yeah, whoopee, let us give Bush credit for the surge. want to do that then you must also give him credit for one of the worst blunders this country has ever seen. Give him credit for what? For the total number of WMD lies his administration or for the over 4,000 troops we lost, or for the country that we destroyed wasting 1 TRILLION dollars, or for the no-bid contracts that Cheney gave to Halliburton , his old company?. He gets credit for NOTHING-----if he did not lie, we would not have been in Iraq, squandering lives, money, and killing 100,000 innocent men, women and CHILDREN

September 03 2010 at 5:05 PM Report abuse -12 rate up rate down Reply
norfwest

Thanks for providing the question, the exact wording, used in the poll. That is a rarity when delivering poll results.

September 03 2010 at 4:53 PM Report abuse +4 rate up rate down Reply
truthforfreedom

This little poll doesn't reflect his overall approval rating, only that of the Iraq situation. His approval ratings are going to dip further if he doesn't start acting like the President of the United States. Leave the UN out, stop suing states in his own country and stop legislating peoples freedoms away. It's atrocious, that we have a President who hates most people and particularily his disdain of leaders of individual states. It's simply atrocious.

September 03 2010 at 2:37 PM Report abuse +18 rate up rate down Reply
andrc657

The war in Iraq was a disaster. Thank God Obama got us out. The war in Afghanistan is a disaster. Please God give Obama the wisdom to get us out.

September 03 2010 at 2:20 PM Report abuse -15 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to andrc657's comment
jpete75910

Sorry to inform ou, but we ARE NOT OUT OF IRAQ.

September 03 2010 at 4:49 PM Report abuse +9 rate up rate down Reply

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