Majority of Americans SayMilitary Action in IraqWas Wrong, Poll Finds

Majority of Americans Say
Military Action in Iraq
Was Wrong, Poll Finds

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
October 25, 2005

A new Harris Interactive poll shows American sentiment about the situation in Iraq remains generally gloomy, with fewer than a quarter of Americans saying they are confident U.S. policies in Iraq will be successful.

For the first time, a majority of Americans (53%) feels that military action in Iraq was the wrong thing to do, according to the survey of 1,833 U.S. adults, compared with 34% who feel it was right.

At the same time, 66% of U.S. adults now say President Bush is doing a "poor" or "only fair" job of handling Iraq, while 32% say he is doing an "excellent" or "pretty good" job. That's little changed from a September Harris poll that found 65% rated Mr. Bush negatively and 34% rated him positively.

BUSH'S IRAQ RATING

See a related Harris poll chart on Bush's handling of Iraq.

Sixty-one percent of Americans say they aren't confident U.S. policies in Iraq will be successful, slightly higher than 59% who lacked confidence in September. Additionally, only 19% of Americans surveyed believe the situation for U.S. troops in Iraq is improving, while 44% believe it is getting worse.

U.S. adults are split on where things are headed in Iraq: 38% believe things there are moving in the right direction, while another 38% believe they're moving in the wrong direction and 24% aren't sure.

See the full results of the Harris poll: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113017755613077776-8ms0juiXuh4y3XrvAf9qXXtbheI_20061025.html?mod=blogs