Poll Suggests Public Divided On Iraq

AP. 12 August 2002

The American public is sharply divided on whether President Bush has a clear policy on Iraq -- with 45 percent saying he does and 42 percent saying he does not, according to an ABC News-Washington Post poll released Monday.

Three-fourths in the poll said Bush should get authorization from Congress before launching an attack, compared with the two-thirds who said just before the 1991 Persian Gulf War that his father, President George H.W. Bush, should get such authorization before attacking Iraq.

Those in the new survey also were about evenly split on whether the final decision should be made by Bush, 48 percent, or Congress, 44 percent.

The poll also found:

Seven in 10, 69 percent, support military action against Iraq, but that number drops to 54 percent if U.S. allies oppose such action.

More than half, 57 percent, support a U.S. invasion of Iraq with ground troops, but that drops to 40 percent if it would cause "a significant number of casualties."

Political partisanship is strongest on views of whether Bush's policy on Iraq is clear. Two-thirds of Republicans say it is, but only one-third of Democrats and independents feel that way.

The poll of [only] 1,023 adults was taken Wednesday through Sunday and has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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