Vietnam Parallel Rejected
President Bush's approval ratings have improved over the month of April even as Americans continue to express strong concerns about Iraq and Bush's handling of the situation there. The new nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center finds 48% approving and 43% disapproving of Bush's overall job performance. This is better than the 43% rating the president received in early April, conducted in the days immediately following the murder and mutilation of American contractors in Falluja.
While the president's overall job score is up, a slim plurality of Americans (48%) disapprove of the way he is dealing with Iraq, and just 36% think Bush has a clear plan for bringing the situation in Iraq to a successful conclusion. But a 54% majority says the U.S. made the right decision to go to war and most Americans (53%) continue to support maintaining U.S. forces in Iraq until a stable government is established there.
Despite frequent comparisons between the conflict in Iraq and the war in Vietnam, just a quarter of Americans say Iraq will turn out to be another Vietnam. More than twice that number (54%) believe the U.S. will accomplish its goals in Iraq. Even among Americans old enough to remember Vietnam, most reject parallels between that war and the current conflict in Iraq.
View Report: <http://people-press.org/>