Public's Views of Afghanistan War Have Turned Sour

(CBS/AP)

As the United States marks eight years of military engagement in Afghanistan, a majority of Americans think that war is going badly for the U.S. and they are divided on whether the United States is doing the right thing by being involved there now.

This is a reversal from October 2001, when the U.S. began military action in Afghanistan. With the country still reeling from the September 11th attacks, support for military action in Afghanistan was high and broad. Ninety percent of Americans approved of it, including solid majorities of both Democrats and Republicans.


CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan

?U.S. MILITARY ATTACKS AGAINST AFGHANISTAN (OCTOBER 2001)

	All	Reps	Dems	Inds
Approve	90%	97%	85%	87%
Disapprove	6%	1%	10%	6%
Don't Know	4%	2%	5%	7%

But eight years later the country is split on U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, according to a CBS News/New York Times Poll conduced September 19-23. Forty-seven percent say the U.S. is doing the right thing by fighting there, but 42 percent think the U.S. should not be involved. And there is a partisan divide now; most Republicans say the U.S. is doing the right thing, while most Democrats disagree. Independents are divided.

?IS THE U.S. DOING THE RIGHT THING BY FIGHTING THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN? (NOW)

	All	Reps	Dems	Inds
Yes	47%	67%	36%	45%
No	42%	25%	55%	41%
Don't Know	11%	8%	9%	14%

Impressions of how the war is going have deteriorated over time. Back in the fall of 2001, most Americans were optimistic about how the war was going for the U.S. in Afghanistan: eight in 10 said it was going well.

This assessment held steady through March of 2003, then much of the focus turned to the war in Iraq. CBS News next asked the public how the war in Afghanistan was going in August 2008, and found that 58 percent of Americans thought the war was going badly – a turnaround from seven years earlier. The most negative views of the war to date occurred just a few months later in December, when 62 percent described the war as going badly. Evaluations remain negative today.

(CBS)

GOALS OF THE WAR

Today, 44 percent of Americans think the main goal of U.S. military action in Afghanistan is to eliminate all terrorists from that country, outdistancing defeating the Taliban (28 percent), or capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden specifically (9 percent). The number who says Bin Laden is half of what it was eight years ago.

?WHAT IS THE MAIN GOAL OF U.S. MILITARY ACTION IN AFGHANISTAN?

	Now	10/2001
Eliminate all terrorists	44%	48%
Defeat the Taliban	28%	18%
Capture/kill Bin Laden	9%	18%

In the early years of the conflict, the American public saw the capture of Osama Bin Laden as crucial to victory in Afghanistan. Majorities said if Bin Laden is not captured or killed, then the U.S. will have lost the war in Afghanistan.

Today, Americans are much less confident that the U.S. will capture Osama Bin Laden. According to a CNN/ Opinion Research Corporation Poll conducted in April of this year, 43 percent said it was likely the U.S. would be able to catch or kill Bin Laden, down dramatically from 78 percent in November 2001, a month into the conflict in Afghanistan.

?WILL U.S. BE ABLE TO CAPTURE OR KILL OSAMA BIN LADEN?

	4/2009	11/2001
Likely	43%	78%
Not likely	54%	21%

** CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll **

While the public sees eliminating terrorists as the war's main goal, only 27 percent of Americans think U.S. military action in Afghanistan has reduced the threat of terrorism against the U.S. More – 51 percent - say that threat has remained the same, while 17 percent think U.S. military action has increased the threat.

U.S. TROOP LEVELS

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. Commander in Afghanistan, recently called for an increase of U.S. troops there, but Americans' views are mixed regarding this issue. Thirty-two percent want U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan decreased, while 29 percent think they should be increased. Another 27 percent want troops to be kept at the same level. Still, the percentage who wants to see troops decreased has declined since August.

?U.S. TROOP LEVELS IN AFGHANISTAN SHOULD…

	Now	8/2009
Increase	29%	25%
Decrease	32%	41%
Keep the same	27%	23%
Don't Know	12%	11%

As President Obama contemplates a new strategy in Afghanistan, 44 percent of Americans approve of his handling of Afghanistan. This percentage is down slightly from August, and has fallen 14 points since the spring.

?PRESIDENT OBAMA'S HANDLING OF AFGHANISTAN

	Now	8/2009	4/2009
Approve	44%	48%	58%
Disapprove	35%	30%	21%
Don't Know	21%	22%	21%

Among the four policy areas measured in this poll, the president actually receives his lowest approval rating on Afghanistan, just behind health care. He gets his highest marks on the war in Iraq –- 54 percent of Americans approve of his handling of it. And 57 percent think that war is going well.

?PRESIDENT OBAMA'S APPROVAL RATINGS

	Approve	Disapprove	Don't Know
Overall	56%	33%	11%
Iraq	54%	29%	17%
Health Care	47%	45%	8%
Afghanistan	44%	35%	21%

Coming up on the "CBS Evening News": Afghanistan: The Road Ahead, a 3-part, in-depth examination of the escalating conflict, airing Oct. 5-7, 6:30 p.m. ET.

---

Jennifer De Pinto is manager of election and survey information for CBS News. Poll Positions is weekly Hotsheet feature on polling trends from the CBS News Survey and Polling Unit. Click here for more posts from the series.

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[way2ski]

It's never too late to admit we've made a strategic blunder. Ten years from now people will be pondering why we stayed so long. In eight years we've failed to achieve our goal of defeating al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. Pakistan now looms as the next country to face our wrath in the continuing saga of: Where's Waldo? Any strategy- more troops or less troops- isn't worth the precious lives that will be lost in the process. We're in a quagmire. We should bring the troops home, use smarter ways to catch terrorists, and secure our country from their wrath.

[Virgil-1]

I don't believe that ninety percent of Americans aprove of this war.So,go spread your political propaganda somewhere else.I don't
buy into the percentage lie.

[rhs648]

A very simple solution is to become an isolationist country. Stop all foreign aid and stop trying to be the policeman of the world. This might work until we are either attacked again or dragged into another conflict. This happened in both WWI and WWII.

[rexrox2]

CBS is hoping that this kind of blogging will help them keep their FCC License????? "Let's throw these open-ended questions out to the public, and see if they notice that we,(CBS) do no reporting. They do no research, no contextual studies, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Let these wingnuts call each other names, and take a poll every once in a while. I'm calling on everyone older than 50 to remind the MEDIA, what their job is, and if need be help connect them to media work 30-40 years ago. Our country is suffering terribly from this neglect. It's as much of a cause of our current sad state of affairs as anything.

[meinohio2]

what a loser of a war, or two wars, and what a loser of a military! how embarrassing that this goes on and on.
And now Obumma, DESPITE WHAT HE PROMISED DURING HIS CAMPAIGN, is going to only continue it. What a dork.

I am also sick of hearing a single soldier referred to as a "troop". Folks, a TROOP, typically designates an entire group of soldiers, not just one soldier. I think that is the thing that annoys me the most now in the media, when they proclaim 15 Troops Killed! meaning 15 soldiers.
Someone along the way, made the mistake, and everyone else picked up on it and said, oh duh, we are supposed to call a soldier a "troop".
So typical of the dumber and dumbest in America.

oh dear, now I will be accused of not being patriotic and NOT SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS !! Give me a break.

[rhs648]

We have heard over and over from Bush opponents that we should be in Afghanistan. We are there and this is now Obama's baby. Where is his support now?

[nextgenman09]

Oh how desperately the fake republican conservatards try to forget that if Bush hadn't run off to Iraq for no reason only to fail there that we wouldn't still be in Afghanistan. What a hoot.

[rwsmith29456]

Either win it or get out of there.

[noloyalisti]

This is a disgusting quagmire and we have become the terrorists. Bring them out NOW. Put them on planes and get out NOW. While we still can.

[smitty5511]

pull the men out i keep hearing we are winning just what are we winning, So! we got a couple of there leaders big deal at what cost killed countless men good men i must say and mamed more, i dont see what we are spending billions of dollars to win what gas didnt get cheaper just what have we gained from this war is more debt. o yea and congress will debate laughs all they do is talk and nothing else. time for america to get out and the next time a country does something like the trade center just bomb them and send a clear message. politicians bah. get real america needs the help not iraq or afganistan. we are not winning nothing.

[curiously1]

The best scenario is to find and kill Ben Laden and then leave. Victory accomplished.