These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
25% Favor Immediate Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan, 28% Say Send More Troops
Monday, June 28, 2010
Following a shake-up of the U.S. military leadership in Afghanistan last week, President Obama on Sunday defended his war strategy and insisted that Americans would assist Afghanistan "for a long time to come." But the president still plans on starting the process of removing troops from Afghanistan by July 2011.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 25% of U.S. Voters believe the president should bring all U.S. troops home from Afghanistan immediately, while another 18% call for a firm timetable to bring all the troops home within a year. Forty-three percent (43%) oppose a firm timetable of any kind. Fourteen percent (14%) are undecided.
While the number who support bringing troops home immediately is little changed from November , just before the president announced his new strategy for the war, it is up slightly from surveys conducted in October and September of last year. Similarly, the number who oppose the creation of a timetable is lower than last year, when the majority felt that way.
Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major political party are opposed to a firm timetable to bring troops home. The plurality of Democrats supports immediate troop withdrawal.
But 28% of all voters believe the United States should send more troops to the war-torn country. Forty-six percent (46%) disagree and say America should not send more troops to Afghanistan. Another 27% are undecided.
Men are fairly evenly divided on whether more troops should be sent, while women are mostly opposed. Republicans are more supportive than Democrats and unaffiliated voters of sending additional troops.
The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on June 25-26, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology .
Voters' expectations for troop withdrawal haven't changed. Thirty-six percent (36%) now say it is at least somewhat likely all troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan before the end of Obama's first term in office, with 11% who say it is Very Likely. Most (56%) say that is not likely to happen, including 13% who think it's Not At All Likely. These results show little change from results found last year.
Forty-seven percent (47%) agree that it was appropriate for the president to fire America's top commander in Afghanistan , General Stanley McChrystal, last week for critical comments he and top aides made about Obama and his senior advisers in a magazine interview.
Voter confidence in the course of the war in Afghanistan has been falling in recent weeks. Just 41% of voters now believe it is possible for the United States to win the nearly nine-year-old war in Afghanistan. Thirty-six percent (36%) disagree and say it is not possible for America to win the war. Another 23% are not sure.
Prior to the president's White House meeting with McChrystal, 44% of voters said Obama is doing a good or excellent job handling national security issues , while 36% rated his performance in this area as poor.
Thirty-nine percent (39%) give the president good or excellent marks for his handling of the war in Afghanistan, while 30% say he's doing a poor job in this area.
Forty-eight percent (48%) say ending the war in Afghanistan is a more important goal than winning it. Forty-two percent (42%) place more importance on winning the war. Voters have been almost evenly divided on this question for months .