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Poll: Majority of Americans Say Iraq War a Mistake
Jun 25, 2004
A new poll shows a big swing in U.S. public opinion against the war in Iraq this month, with a majority of Americans now saying they believe the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq and the war there has made the US less safe from terrorism.
Fifty-four percent of those who took part in a survey conducted June 21-23, 2004 by the Gallup polling organization for CNN television and the newspaper USA Today say U.S. military involvement in Iraq was a mistake -- the first time that opinion has been expressed by a majority of Americans.
The Gallup poll asked the same question on six earlier occasions since March 2003. During the first days of the war, 75 percent of Americans said they felt U.S. military action was the right course; since October, between 40 and 44 percent of those polled have said the U.S. military involvement was a mistake.
Also for the first time a majority (55%) of the interviewed Americans say that the war in Iraq has made the US less safe from terrorism.
The Gallup poll indicates the 2004 race for the White House remains very close, even though President Bush appears to have picked up some support in recent weeks at the expense of his expected Democratic Party opponent, Senator John Kerry.
The new survey has the president leading Senator Kerry by 48 to 47 percent. Three weeks ago, Senator Kerry had a six-point lead in the same poll.
On the campaign trail in California this week, Senator Kerry derided President Bush's promise of four years ago to unite the country. He said Mr. Bush was "the greatest divider as a president in the modern history of this country."
"Above all, what leaps out at me is the thirst among Americans for leadership that really wants to bring people together and find solutions," he said.
Other Democrats are also stepping up their criticism of the president. In a speech in Washington, former Vice President Al Gore, the man who lost to George Bush in the 2000 election, accused the president and Vice President Dick Cheney of exaggerating pre-war links between Iraq and al-Qaida.
"If Iraq had nothing to do with the attack or the organization that launched the attack against us, then that means the president took us to war when he did not have to," he said.
The latest U.S. polls suggest that Iraq and the domestic economy will be the crucial issues in the November election.
This article uses material from VOA.
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