Another Day, Another Poll, Another Disappointment for the Anti-War Left

—Another glass-half-full analysis—

A day after the Washington Post/ABC News poll highlighted the failure of the multi-million dollar anti-war campaign this summer to decrease support for the war in Iraq (their poll showed most positions unchanged on the war, and that support for the surge actually grew since July), the New York Times/CBS News poll shows similar results.

The NYT/CBS poll showed a 16 percent jump since July among respondents who believe the surge is making the situation in Iraq better. And for the first time since the surge began, the NYT/CBS poll shows more people believe the surge is making Iraq better than believe it’s making it worse. The ratio is almost three to one (35 to 12).

The President’s job approval, while low (30 percent), is unchanged since the poll taken July 20-22; approval of the President’s handling of Iraq increased by one point. Approval of the Democrat Congress, on the other hand, fell three points to 23 during the same period; it’s dropped 12 points since May.

The well-funded anti-war campaign was able to lower the percentage of people who think the U.S. did the “right thing in taking military action against Iraq”—by one point. And even that number is still six points higher than it was in May (41 vs. 35 percent).  But there was a four-percent increase since July among those who thought the U.S. should maintain the current level of troops in Iraq.

Also largely unchanged is the percentage who believe the effort to “bring stability and order to Iraq” is going somewhat or very well (an increase of one percent since July).

Also of note in the poll is that while a plurality believe Democrats are “more likely to make the right decisions about the war in Iraq,” Republicans have been closing the gap since May (the last time this poll asked the question). The gap between the parties contracted by eight points (to 42-32) in the last four months.

The poll also showed a majority (51 percent) believe that Iraq is part of the war on terrorism, a five-point increase since July.

So, again, despite a multi-million dollar campaign over the summer to erode support for the effort in Iraq, public opinion is largely unchanged or headed the other way.

Another day, another poll, another disappointment for the anti-war left.