Majority Says U.S. Goals in Iraq Mostly Achieved, But Divide Persists on Whether Invasion Decision Was Right
As U.S. military involvement in Iraq nears its end after nearly eight years of warfare, a majority of Americans believe the U.S. has mostly succeeded in achieving its goals in that country and three-quarters approve of President Obama’s decision to bring all the troops home by year’s end, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted Nov. 9-14.
Fifty-six percent say the U.S. mostly succeeded in achieving its goals in Iraq while 33 percent said it had mostly failed, with 10 percent undecided.
Seventy-five percent approve of Obama’s decision to withdraw all troops while 21 percent disagree, with 4 percent undecided. that may put some Republicans on the wrong side of public opinion, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney who said shortly after Obama’s announcement that “the unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government.”
Ninety percent of Democrats and 70 percent of independents back Obama on the withdrawal, while Republicans are divided, with 48 percent approving it and 47 percent disapproving. Five percent of Republicans are undecided.
While a majority believes the U.S. mostly succeeded in Iraq, Americans are still divided about whether the Bush administration’s decision to invade the country in 2003 was right or wrong. Forty-eight percent said it was the right decision while 46 percent believes it was the wrong one, with 6 percent undecided. However, that’s something of a change from earlier polls. In mid-2010, 51 percent said invading Iraq was the wrong decision compared to 41 percent who supported it and in nearly all polls during 2007 and 2008, 50 percent or more called it the wrong decision.
Pew says the partisan gap that existed since the start over the war was the invasion was the right or wrong decision persists today. Seventy-two percent of Republicans say invasion was the right decision compared to 44 percent of independents and 37 percent of Democrats. At the time of the invasion in 2003, 90 percent of Republicans supported it compared to 66 percent of independents and 50 percent of Democrats. By 2005, the number of Democrats and independents who said invasion was the right decision had fallen under 50 percent.
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