Latest Harris Iraq Poll: 'We're Not Winning, We're Not Losing'

The latest Harris Poll of U.S. attitudes on the situation in Iraq war shows that many U.S. adults hold the attitude of "we're not winning and we're not losing." However, while this suggests the U.S. adult public thinks that perhaps things aren't quite as negative in the war in Iraq, other data within this same survey still paints a very negative picture. Most of the numbers are nearly as low as they have ever been in the course of more than three years.

A slight majority (52%) believe that we are not winning, but we are not losing either. However, almost three times as many feel we are losing (29%)as compared to just 10 percent who think we are winning. There are significant differences by political party. Many Republicans (57%) agreethat we are neither winning nor losing, though 23 percent of Republicans believe we are winning and 11 percent think we are losing. Conversely,about half of Democrats (49%) think we are losing and 43 percent think we are neither winning nor losing.

In this survey conducted just before the State of the Union address, seven in 10 (70%) U.S. adults give President Bush a negative rating on his handling of Iraq, while only a quarter (26%) give him positivemarks. These are virtually identical to a November 2006 assessment when President Bush also received a 71 to 26 percent negative rating.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll survey of 2,337 U.S. adults conducted online between January 11 and 18, by Harris Interactive.

In the past few weeks, President Bush has also embarked on a major campaign to see his new Iraq policy of sending in more troops. The "sell" may be working somewhat as more people (27%) now accept the premise of sending more troops to Iraq for a few months. In November, a lower 19 percent agreed with this. However, that being said, over four in 10 (44%) U.S. adults think a timetable should be set for the withdrawal of US troops from the Iraq war. This is down from November, when 51 percent felt this way.

Furthermore the main trends are:

* By 67 to 16 percent, a clear majority still believes that there is a civil war in Iraq now. This has not changed since November 2006 when 68 percent to 14 percent felt this way;

* A 55 percent majority now believes that the situation for U.S. troops is getting worse and only 13 percent think it is getting better. In November, a 58 percent to nine percent majority felt this way;

* A 46 percent to 37 percent plurality (compared to 46% to 36% in November) now believes that "taking military action against Iraq" was the wrong thing to do;

* A 61 percent to 19 percent majority is "not confident" that U.S. policy in Iraq will be successful, compared to a 63 percent to 17 percent majority in November.

The public is split between those who believe that "it was a mistake to take military action in Iraq in the first place" (40%; down from November's 42%) and those who think it "was the right thing to do but that things have gotten off course" (41%; virtually unchanged from 40% in November). Only a small minority (12%; similar to November's 13 percent) believes that it "was the right thing to do and things are going reasonably well."

This survey finds that attitudes toward events in the Iraq war are still highly polarized by party. Fully 67 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of independents think that taking military action in Iraq was "a mistake inthe first place," but only 12 percent of Republicans feel this way. On the other hand, 57 percent of Republicans (compared to 24 percent of Democrats and 43 percent of independents) believe invading Iraq "was the right thing to do, but things have gotten off course there." Further, 26 percent of Republicans, but only two percent of Democrats and nine percent of independents, believe it was the right decision "and things are going reasonably well."

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Dems Tie McCain To Bush 'Surge' Strategy

In a potential glimpse at the 2008 race for the White House, Democrats are tying U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to the unpopular escalation of the war in Iraq that President Bush unveiled this week.

McCain is looking at a second bid for president. McCain ran for the GOP nomination in 2000 but ultimately lost to Bush.

"Cementing himself as the establishment candidate committed to continuing the Bush legacy of failure in Iraq, John McCain yesterday wholeheartedly endorsed the president's escalation of the war. Although the president's new increase of troops for the civil war in Iraq falls shy of the 35,000 troops McCain had proposed, the Arizona senator said he was satisfied with the move, stating 'I think it meets our criteria,'" the Democratic National Committee says, citing a McCain interview on CNN.

"Spearheading the effort to escalate the Iraq War with tens ofthousands more American troops may cement John McCain in Bush's camp, but it won't help him become Bush's successor," says Democratic National Committee spokesman Luis Miranda. "The American people have made it clear they want a new direction in Iraq, not another troop increase that keeps our brave men and women in uniform bogged down in the Iraqi civil war."

Inability to articulate clear position has garnered McCain broad criticism, according to the Democratic National Committee.

Polls find Americans disapprove of sending more troops to Iraq.

"Harold Meyerson wrote in the Washington Post that McCain's continued hawkishness, even if held sincerely, was flawed, writing that 'integrity in the pursuit of fantasy is no virtue,'" the DNC says. "Joel Connelly, a columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, noted that, 'The heady spirit of a reformer on the road is gone,' and concluded that McCain 'is the last person in the world that you'd want to be in charge of cleaning up Bush's [foreign policy] excesses.' Ann McFeatters wrote that McCain has become 'garbled' in explaining his Iraq position. And pollster John Zogby noted that McCain's 'going to be all alone in suggesting the Iraq Study Group' was wrong.

McCain has criticized aspects of Bush's war handling, however, and called attention to mistakes in remarks in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Iraq.

"We have made many, many mistakes since 2003, and these will not be easily reversed," McCain said. "Even greater than the costs thus far and in the future, however, are the catastrophic consequences that would ensue from our failure in Iraq. By surging troops and bringing security to Baghdad and other areas, we will give the Iraqis and their partners the best possible chances to succeed.

"From everything I saw during my trip to Iraq last month, I believe that success is still possible," McCain added. "And I would not support this new strategy if I didn’t think it had a real chance of success. But let us realize that there are no guarantees. By controlling the violence, we can pave the way for a political settlement. Once the government wields greater authority, however, Iraqi leaders must take significant steps on their own, and they must do it right away."

McCain acknowledges that "[i]ncreasing U.S. troop levels will expose more brave Americans to danger and increase the number of American casualties."


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