Americans split on sending more troops to Afghanistan: CNN poll

CNN POLL RELEASED TUESDAY MORNING

Interviews with 1,014 adult Americans, including 928 registered voters, conducted by telephone by Opinion Research Corporation on November 13-15, 2009. The margin of sampling error for results based on the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points and for registered voters is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

21. Do you favor or oppose the U.S. war in Afghanistan?

Nov. 13-15 Oct. 30-Nov. 1

2009 2009

Favor 45% 40%

Oppose 52% 58%

No opinion 3% 2%

Oct. 16-18 Sept. 11-13 Aug. 28-31 July 31-Aug. 3 May 14-17 Apr. 3-5 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009

Favor 41% 39% 42% 41% 50% 53%

Oppose 57% 58% 57% 54% 48% 46%

No opinion 2% 3% 2% 5% 3% 1%

Feb. 18-19 Dec. 1-2 July 27-29 Jan. 19-21 Sept. 22-24

2009 2008 2008 2007 2006

Favor 47% 52% 46% 44% 50%

Oppose 51% 46% 52% 52% 48%

No opinion 2% 2% 2% 4% 2%

22. If Barack Obama decided to send about 34,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, would you favor or oppose that decision?

Nov. 13-15

2009

Favor 50%

Oppose 49%

No opinion 1%

23. And if Obama decided to send a smaller number of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, would you favor or oppose that decision?

Nov. 13-15

2009

Favor 42%

Oppose 56%

No opinion 2%

24. In general, how would you say things are going for the U.S. in Afghanistan – very well, moderately well, moderately badly, or very badly?

Nov. 13-15 May 14-17 Mar. 9-11

2009 2009 2007

Very well 2% 3% 5%

Moderately well 30% 33% 35%

Moderately badly 42% 44% 34%

Very badly 24% 17% 21%

No opinion 2% 3% 4%

25. Do you favor or oppose the U.S. war in Iraq?

Favor Oppose No Opinion

November 13-15, 2009 36% 62% 2%

June 26-28, 2009 34% 64% 2%

May 14-17, 2009 34% 65% 1%

April 3-5, 2009 35% 63% 1%

Feb. 18-19, 2009 31% 67% 2%

Dec. 1-2, 2008 36% 63% 1%

Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2008 33% 64% 3%

October 17-19, 2008 32% 66% 1%

October 3-5, 2008 34% 65% *

September 5-7, 2008 37% 61% 2%

Aug. 29-31, 2008 35% 64% 1%

Aug. 23-24, 2008 33% 66% 1%

July 27-29, 2008 33% 66% 1%

June 26-29, 2008 30% 68% 2%

June 4-5, 2008 30% 68% 1%

April 28-30, 2008 30% 68% 3%

Mar. 14-16, 2008 32% 66% 2%

Feb. 1-3, 2008 34% 64% 2%

Jan. 14-17, 2008 34% 63% 3%

Jan. 9-10, 2008 33% 65% 3%

Dec. 6-9, 2007 31% 68% 1%

Nov. 2-4, 2007 31% 68% 1%

Oct. 12-14, 2007 34% 65% 2%

September 7-9, 2007 34% 63% 4%

August 6-8, 2007 33% 64% 3%

June 23-24, 2007 30% 67% 3%

May 4-6, 2007 34% 65% 1%

April 10-12, 2007 32% 66% 2%

March 9-11, 2007 32% 63% 4%

January 11, 2007 31% 67% 2%

December 15-17, 2006 31% 67% 2%

November 17-19, 2006 33% 63% 4%

November 3-5, 2006 33% 61% 6%

October 27-29, 2006 38% 59% 3%

October 20-22, 2006 34% 64% 3%

October 13-15, 2006 34% 64% 2%

October 6-8, 2006 32% 62% 7%

Sep. 29-October 2, 2006 38% 61% 1%

September 23-24, 2006 40% 59% 1%

August 30-Sep. 2, 2006 39% 58% 2%

August 18-20, 2006 35% 61% 3%

August 2-3, 2006 36% 60% 3%

June 14-15, 2006 38% 54% 8%

(CNN/USA TODAY/GALLUP TRENDS ON FOLLOWING PAGE)

CNN/USA TODAY/GALLUP TRENDS

Favor

Oppose

No opinion

2006 Feb 9-12 *

40

56

4

2005 Jun 16-19

39

59

2

2005 Mar 18-20*

47

47

6

2004 Nov 19-21*

48

46

6

2003 Oct 24-26

54

43

3

2003 Apr 22-23

71

26

3

2003 Apr 10

72

22

6

2003 Apr 7-8

68

28

4

2003 Apr 5-6

70

27

3

2003 Mar 29-30

70

27

3

2003 Mar 24-25

71

27

2

2003 Mar 22-23

72

25

3

Would you favor or oppose invading Iraq with U.S. ground troops in an attempt to remove Saddam Hussein from power?

Favor Oppose No opinion

2003 Mar 14-15* 64 33 3

2003 Mar 3-5 59 37 4

2003 Feb 24-26 59 37 4

2003 Feb 17-19 59 38 3

2003Feb 7-9 63 34 3

2003 Jan 31-Feb 2 58 38 4

2003 Jan 23-24 52 43 5

2003 Jan 10-12 56 38 6

2003 Jan 3-5* 56 39 5

2002 Dec. 19-22* 53 38 9

2002 Dec 16-17* 58 35 7

2002 Dec 9-10 55 39 6

2002 Nov 23-24 58 37 5

2002 Nov 8-10 59 35 6

2002 Oct 21-22 54 40 6

2002 Oct 14-17* 56 37 7

2002 Oct 3-6 53 40 7

2002 Sept 20-22* 57 38 5

Would you favor or oppose sending American ground troops to the Persian Gulf in an attempt to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq?

2002 Sept 13-16 57 39 4

2002 Sept 5-8* 58 36 6

2002 Sept 2-4 58 36 6

2002 Aug 19-21 53 41 6

2002 June 17-19* 61 31 8

Would you favor or oppose sending American troops back to the Persian Gulf in order to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq?

2001 Nov 26-27 74 20 6

2001 Feb 19-21 52 42 6

1993 June 29-30 70 27 3

1992 Mar 30-Apr 5 55 40

26. As you may know, the U.S. sent 20,000 combat troops to Iraq in 2007 in what was called a surge. Based on what you have read or heard, do you think that surge of U.S. troops to Iraq has been a success or a failure?

Nov. 13-15 July 27-29

2009 2008*

Success 56% 52%

Failure 38% 41%

Mixed/Depends (vol.) 4% 5%

No opinion 2% 3%

* Asked of half-sample.