CNN Poll: Afghan war support hits new low
(CNN) – Support for the war in Afghanistan has fallen to an all-time low with the majority of Americans saying the U.S. should withdraw all of its troops from Afghanistan before the 2014 deadline set by the Obama administration, according to a new poll.
The CNN/ORC International survey released Friday indicated only 25% of Americans favored the war in the Asian country. A majority of Republicans voiced opposition to it, for the first time since the war began in 2001.
Full results (pdf)
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Just 37% of the general public said things are going well for the U.S. in Afghanistan, while only 34% said America is winning the war. The approval likely contributed to the 55% of those surveyed who said the U.S. should remove all of its troops from the country before 2014.
Twenty-two percent expressed support for the 2014 timetable and an additional 22% said the U.S. should keep some troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014.
Leaders at the Pentagon have recently responded to low poll numbers by stressing the importance of fighting the war on the ground.
"We cannot fight wars by polls," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday. "If we do that we're in deep trouble. We have to operate based on what we believe is the best strategy to achieve the mission that we are embarked on. And the mission here is to safeguard our country by ensuring that the Taliban and al Qaeda never again find a safe haven in Afghanistan."
The poll, conducted for CNN by ORC International, surveyed 1,014 American adults by telephone between March 24 and March 25 with a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
- CNN's Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
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Bring our troops home and let them go back to fighting each other.
These stone age people will never be civilized. Even Genghis Khan couldn't win!
America needs to wake up to the fact that our nation has been contaminated by corrupt actors in the MIC who seek to make endless profit from endless wars. Read "War is a Racket" by Gen. Smedley Butler. He is a true patriot and his words are as relevant now as they were back then.
37% say the war in Afghanistan is doing well? Unbelievable.
the military industrial complex are cooking up your next war –the carlylegroup and haliburton all ready have a new mission for your kids and granchildren
Stop the senseless waste of american lives. The US will never change anything in that country. Political expediency is
a crime.
As a brother of a fallen soldier killed in Afghanistan and someone serving in the Army myself, I wholeheartedly agree that our troops should be brought home sooner rather than later. At least in Iraq we were able to overthrow a brutal despot who slaughtered his own people by the thousands. You did the right thing completing the troop pullout there, Mr. President...please do the same in Afghanistan
It's time to end this insanity....bring all the troops home NOW....the people over there don't want us there....I'll vote for WHOEVER promises to bring the troops home immediately....it's as simple as that !
No one has been ever been able to get the upper hand in Afghanistan. Learn from history and get the heck out of Dodge!
"34% said America is winning the war"
Based on what other than blind optimism???