FUNNY NUMBERS:

7 in 10 Americans Back Decision to Go to War: Poll Finds Public Divided on Hussein's Fate as a Measure of Success (Richard Morin and Claudia Deane, March 21, 2003, Washington Post)

A substantial majority of Americans support the war with Iraq, but the public is divided over whether Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must be killed, captured or merely removed from power for the United States and its allies to be successful, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

More than seven in 10 endorsed the decision of President Bush to wage war on Iraq. A similar proportion expressed confidence that the United States and its allies are right to use military force to topple Hussein and rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. And two out of three said they believe Bush had worked hard enough to try to find a diplomatic solution before ordering the attack.

"I didn't vote for George Bush, but I strongly support him, and if anything I think he should have acted sooner," said Rick Jackson, 31, a manager at an engineering company in Bradenton, Fla. "I think he exhausted all channels to appease those who don't agree with us."

Ipsos/Cook Political Poll: With War Underway, A Dramatic Political Boost For Bush, Republicans (Ipsos Public Affairs, March 21, 2003)

In interviews with 804 registered voters conducted March 18-20, 2003, the Ipsos Public Affairs/Cook Political Report Poll registers a dramatic swing in favor of President George W. Bush and the whole Republican Party.

* A majority (53%) of all adults say the country is on the right track, 40% wrong track; that represents a reversal from 37% right track-54% wrong track in interviews conducted February 18-March 6, 2003.

* In the most recent poll, 46% of registered voters would definitely vote to re-elect Bush, the highest re-elect number he has seen since the second quarter (April-May-June) 2002.

* In the most recent poll, 44% of registered voters would like to see Republicans win control of Congress and 41% would like Democrats to win control.

These poll numbers are uninteresting in themselves--if Warren G. Harding declared war on a ham sandwich he'd get 70% in the polls--but do remind us of something important. In the run-up to the war, the press, Democrats, and others seemed fixated on what they saw as limited support for taking on Saddam. Yet the polls never showed support much below 45% and that rose rapidly as the day of reckoning approached. What they seem to have missed is that having 40-something % of the public supporting an unprovoked war was a singular occurence. For instance, prior to Pearl Harbor, less than 20% of the American people supported entering WWII, the definitive "Good War" of the 20th Century. It's almost unbelievable that the Democrats have allowed themselves to become such captives of polling data without really understanding it at all. To look at record highs and misinterpret them as relative lows is a fundamental mistake, one that inevitably put them on the "wrong" side of a 7 in 10 split when the shooting started. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 21, 2003 8:50 PM