WSJ.com / OPINION JOURNAL from THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Editorial Page
BEST OF THE WEB TODAY
BY JAMES TARANTO
Friday, April 4, 2003 5:00 p.m. EST
CLEARER THAN WORLD WAR II
PollingReport.com presents some fascinating historical poll results. During five different wars, Americans were asked, "Do you feel that you have a clear idea of what this war is all about--that is, what we are fighting for?" Here are the results, arranged in ascending order of the proportion answering "yes":
Date War Yes No DK/NA
May 1967 Vietnam 49% 48% 3%
November 1942 World War II 73% 27% 0%
December 1990 Gulf War 74% 24% 2%
March 2003 Iraqi Freedom 81% 18% 1%
November 2001 War on Terror 89% 10% 1%
This week's Village Voice, to take an example at random, has an article by Sydney Schanberg, who complains that the White House "kept changing its story" in the run-up to hostilities. Funny how the story is clear to four out of five Americans anyway.