American Public Divided on Sending More Troops to Afghanistan

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One-quarter of Americans not sure what to do regarding troops
NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
President Obama has a difficult decision ahead of him - whether to send more
troops to an increasingly unstable Afghanistan or not. If he is looking for
guidance from the American public to help make this decision any easier, he is
not going to get it, as they seem to be torn over whether the United States
should commit more or less troops to the war in Afghanistan.

Three in ten Americans (31%) want to commit more troops while one-third (34%)
want to commit less troops to the war. Just over one in ten (13%) say they want
to keep the level of troops the same while one-quarter (23%) are not at all sure
what to do with the level of troops there.

These are some of the results of BBC World News America/ Harris Poll® of 2,227
adults surveyed online between October 23 and 27, 2009 by Harris Interactive®.

Looking back over the past year, the American public has always been a bit
divided over the war and troops in Afghanistan. Back in January, just as Barack
Obama was preparing to be sworn in as president, one-third of Americans (33%)
wanted to commit more troops while just over one-quarter (27%) wanted to commit
fewer troops and one in five (21%) wanted to keep the same level of troops. In
August, this attitude shifted and one-quarter (25%) said send more troops while
almost two in five (37%) said commit fewer troops and one in five Americans
(20%) still said keep the same level of troops. Now, there is more of an even
split on whether to commit more or less troops while fewer Americans believe we
should keep the level the same and more Americans are not at all sure.

There are also gender and age differences over what to do in Afghanistan. Men
are more likely than women to want to commit more troops (41% versus 21%).
Women, on the other hand, are more likely to want to commit less troops to the
war in Afghanistan (40% versus 28%).

The older one is, the more likely they want to commit more troops and the
reverse is also true as the younger adults are more likely to want to commit
fewer troops to Afghanistan. Two in five adults aged 55 and older (40%) and 36%
of those aged 45-54 years old want to commit more troops compared to one in five
adults aged 18-34 (19%) and 28% of those aged 35-44 who feel the same way. On
the other side of the issue two in five adults aged both 18-34 and 35-44 (42%
and 38% respectively) want to commit fewer troops compared to one-third of those
aged 45-54 (33%) and one-quarter of those aged 55 and older (25%).

So What?

The President has a lot on his plate and his approval ratings have been inching
downward over the past few months. He has to make a tough decision when it comes
to what to do with troops and the war in Afghanistan and he is unable to look to
the American people for guidance. No matter what decision he ends up making,
many people will be on the other side of this issue and he will have to spend
time persuading them of why he made the decision he did. This is time spent away
from other pressing issues such as health care reform and the economy and this
may cause problems with the American public.

TABLE 1
INCREASING US TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN
"Do you believe the United States should commit more or less troops to thewar in Afghanistan?
Base: All U.S. adults

Total Gender Age
Male Female 18-34 35-44 45-54 55+
% % % % % % %
Commit more troops 31 41 21 19 28 36 40
Keep the level of troops the same 13 15 11 14 12 17 9
Commit less troops 34 28 40 42 38 33 25
Not at all sure 23 17 28 25 22 15 25

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 2
AMOUNT OF US TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN - TREND
"Do you believe the United States shouldcommit more or less troops to the war inAfghanistan?
Base: All U.S. adults

Jan Aug Oct
2009 2009 2009
% % %
Commit more troops 33 25 31
Keep the level of troops the same 21 20 13
Commit less troops 27 37 34
Not at all sure 19 18 23

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

The Harris Poll®#123, November 2, 2009

By Regina A. Corso, Director, The Harris Poll

Methodology

This BBC World News America/Harris Poll was conducted online within the United
States October 23 and 27, 2009 among 2,227 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures
for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were
weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions
in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for
respondents` propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are
subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to
quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated
with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options,
and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids
the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated
are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure,
unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical
because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to
participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to
reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on
those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of
theoretical sampling error can be calculated

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council
on Public Polls.

About Harris Interactive

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www.harrisinteractive.com.

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