January 31, 2003

AMERICA--LAND OF THE MEAN DOVES:

Poll: Even Doves Back Iraq Action (Dana Blanton, January 31, 2003, FOX News)
While only slightly more Americans describe themselves as "hawks" than as "doves" when it comes to military matters, by more than three-to-one the public supports military action to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power.

According to the latest FOX News poll, conducted by Opinion Dynamics Corporation, two-thirds of Americans (67 percent) support U.S. military action against Iraq -- the same level of support as before the president's State of the Union address on Tuesday evening.  Among "hawks," that support climbs to 83 percent, and even among "doves" a majority still supports ousting Saddam (52 percent).

When asked to describe themselves on military matters, 38 percent say they are a hawk, 31 percent say dove, and 16 percent say it depends.  President Bush is seen as a hawk by 67 percent and as a dove by only 9 percent of the public.

Overall, fully 87 percent of Americans believe Iraq is deceiving inspectors by hiding chemical and biological or other weapons of mass destruction, and almost as many (81 percent) believe Saddam has ties to the Al Qaeda terrorist group.


Which leads one to ask: precisely who are the Democrats playing to with their opposition to the war? Posted by Orrin Judd at January 31, 2003 3:31 PM
Comments

The Democrats need either a military or economic disaster to win the presidency in '04, and maybe both. They might as well prepare by predicting disaster now. If they're wrong, they're no worse off. If they're right, they're geniuses.

Posted by: David Cohen at January 31, 2003 3:48 PM

How much genius does it take to predict disaster? There are plenty of imbeciles who can do that.



I disagree that they're no worse off. People don't like negativity. Democrats are turning the voters off.

Posted by: pj at January 31, 2003 5:04 PM

LA-LA-LA, I can't hear you!



That seems to be the argument from the Left (which is distinct from Democrats, in many cases).



It would seem that many Dems are pinning their hopes on other polls (this one doesn't count---it's Fox, after all) that indicate that there is a much slimmer majority in favor of war.



Thus, they can claim, on the one hand, to be speaking to a major portion of the American public, and can pander to the hard-Left (where they are often more comfortable, on matters of defense and war).

Posted by: Dean at January 31, 2003 7:01 PM

I agree with PJ - right now its 52-48 GOP, if the Dems keep up with the negative and obstructionist attitude its going to be 56-44 or more GOP in '04

Posted by: AWW at January 31, 2003 10:34 PM

The Dems primary problem is they only see this issue in terms of how it can help/hurt the '04 elections for them. "What's good for the country be damned...we gotta get a majority back in Congress!"

Posted by: Bartman at February 1, 2003 9:27 AM
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