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."
56% Favor Bringing Troops Home From Afghanistan Within A Year
Monday, May 9, 2011
Voters feel more strongly than ever that U.S. troops should be brought home from Afghanistan right away or a timetable should be set to bring them back within a year.
A new Rasmussen Reports nation telephone survey finds that 35% of Likely U.S. Voters now favor the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, the highest level of support to date. Twenty-one percent (21%) more support the establishment of a firm timetable to bring the troops home within a year.
The combined total of 56% is up four points from the beginning of March , up 13 points from 43% last September , and up 19 points from September 2009 .
Thirty percent (30%) of voters still oppose the creation of any kind of timetable for withdrawal and 15% remain undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here .)
Members of President Obama's party remain the strongest supporters of bringing the troops home. Seventy percent (70%) of Democrats favor either immediate withdrawal or the creation of a firm timetable for withdrawal within a year. That view is shared by most unaffiliated voters (54%) and a growing number of Republicans (42%).
This is the first Rasmussen Reports survey on Afghanistan since the killing of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the al Qaeda terrorist organization. President Bush launched the war against Afghanistan in October 2001 because the Afghani government continued to harbor al Qaeda after the 9/11 terorrist attacks. Afghanistan is now America's longest running war. Full withdrawal of U.S. troops is expected to take until 2014.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters nationwide was conducted on May 5-6, 2011 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 .
Thirty-six percent (36%) now say the U.S. mission in Afghanistan will be judged a success. That's up from 27% in March but down from 42% in early December . Just 28% felt at that time that the United States has a clearly defined military mission in Afghanistan.
Twenty-six percent (26%) continue to feel that the mission in Afghanistan will be seen as a failure, down 16 points from December. A sizable 38% are not sure how history will view the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
Fifty-two percent (52%) of the Political Class believes the U.S. mission in Afghanistan will be judged a success, a view shared by just 32% of Mainstream voters.
Forty-seven percent (47%) of voters still feel that the United States should have become involved in Afghanistan, down slightly from March. Thirty-six percent (36%) disagree and say America should not have gotten involved there. Seventeen percent (17%) are not sure.
Fifty-eight percent (58%) of male voters favor U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, compared to only 37% of female voters.
Most Republicans (55%) and a plurality (46%) of unaffiliated voters believe the United States should have become involved in Afghanistan. Democrats are evenly divided on the question. Interestingly, however, there's little partisan disagreement over how history will view America's mission in Afghanistan.
Eighty-six percent (86%) of all voters have closely followed recent news reports about the war in Afghanistan, with 41% who are following Very Closely.
Americans overwhelmingly endorse the president's decision to kill bin Laden and don't believe a greater effort should have been made to bring the terrorist mastermind to trial.
A month ago, voter confidence in U.S. efforts in the War on Terror had fallen to its lowest level in over four years, but that confidence has soared following the killing of bin Laden. Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters now believe the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror, the highest level of confidence measured since early February 2009. Voters have only rarely expressed this much confidence in seven years of surveying on the question.
Americans still remain highly concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack in the United States in the near future, but that concern has not increased because of the killing of bin Laden.
However, Pakistan where bin Laden was found may be a loser following last week's events. Eighty-four percent (84%) of Americans think it's at least somewhat likely that high-level officials in the Pakistani government knew where bin Laden was hiding . Just 15% now feel that the United States should continue military and financial aid to Pakistan.