In such a Marcusean or Adornian Totally Administered Society, as Chuck Grimes lays it out, where do poll data like this, where the balance of ideological forces is trending more and more anti-war, such a process would be inexplicable.
Poll finds Americans don't believe Bush has made case for war Tuesday, December 17, 2002 ©2002 Associated Press URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/12/17/state0354EST0018.DTL
(12-17) 00:54 PST LOS ANGELES (AP) -- More than two-thirds of Americans believe the Bush administration has failed to make its case that a war against Iraq is justified, according to a poll by the Los Angeles Times. Ninety
percent of respondents said they don't doubt Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction, the poll released Tuesday showed. But without new evidence from U.N. inspectors, 72 percent of respondents, including 60 percent of Republicans, said the president has not provided enough evidence to justify starting a war. "I'm not against (war) if it is necessary," Kramer Smith, 59, a Republican from Bloomfield, Iowa, one of several respondents told the Times in follow-up interviews. "But I think we need to be pretty sure before we start pulling in the big guns." The Times poll was conducted from Dec. 12-15 and interviewed 1,305 adults nationwide. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. Support for a possible war appears to be weakening, with 58 percent saying they support a ground attack on Iraq, according to the poll. In an August Times poll, 64 percent said they would support a ground attack. Last January, the Times and other polls found support for military action more than 70 percent. Yet almost three-quarters of Americans support the way Bush is handling the threat of terrorism, and nearly three out of five like how he's handling the country's affairs. "If he actually does go to war, I suspect people will swing behind him as they did in the Gulf War," said John Mueller, an expert on war and public opinion at Ohio State University. "But right now, there isn't all that much enthusiasm for the war." Sixty-three percent of those polled said war would be justified only if the United Nations finds a pattern of serious violations by Iraq. Only 22 percent agreed with the administration's position that any error or omission in the arms declaration Iraq sent to the United Nations earlier this month is adequate to justify war; 6 percent said it would depend on the nature of the omissions; and 9 percent said they were not sure or declined to reply. Nearly
six in 10 said it is unlikely U.N. inspectors will find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. "I don't doubt that they do" have weapons of mass destruction, said respondent Victoria Ellison, 57, a Democrat from Burbank, Calif. "But I want to see proof." If U.N. inspections fail to find evidence of Iraqi weapons programs, almost half said they would oppose war. Only 41 percent would favor war, and 10 percent said they were undecided. If the United States should launch an attack, 68 percent of Americans want it to be only with the support of the international community. Only 26 percent said they were willing to support war if the United States acted alone. "I am not opposed to doing something, but it would have to be in the right circumstances," said Geoff George, a 20-year-old independent from Albany, Ore. Respondents also believe war would have serious ramifications at home and abroad. Sixty-seven percent said war would likely increase the threat of terrorist attacks in the United States; 51 percent said they feel it would destabilize the Middle East; and 45 percent said it will adversely impact the U.S. economy. ©2002 Associated Press
-- Michael Pugliese