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Afghan War Edges Out Iraq as Most Important for U.S. Two-thirds say U.S. involvement in Afghanistan not a mistake
by Frank Newport
PRINCETON, NJ -- By a slim margin, Americans say the war in Afghanistan is more important for the United States than is the conflict in Iraq.
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Americans appear to strongly support the initial decision to go to war in Afghanistan, based on responses to Gallup's classic "mistake" question (which has been asked about U.S. conflicts since the Korean War in the early 1950s). Two-thirds (68%) affirm the basis for sending military forces to Afghanistan, saying it was not a mistake.
Support for U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan decreased between 2002 and 2004, but has remained fairly constant since that point.
The poll showing two-thirds of Americans who say the war in Afghanistan was not a mistake can be contrasted to polling in recent years showing that the majority of Americans have consistently said the war in Iraq was a mistake.
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The weekend poll included a question in which a random half of respondents were asked whether they favored or opposed sending additional U.S. troops "from Iraq" to Afghanistan to fight al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist operations. The other half were asked about sending U.S. troops to fight terrorists, but with no mention of where those troops would come from.
The results show that it makes little difference whether the "from Iraq" clause is included in the question wording; a majority favors sending additional troops in either circumstance. There has been little change in these responses since last summer.
There are interesting differences by party in response to this question about sending in more troops. Republicans are more in favor of sending in troops when there is no mention of "from Iraq." Democrats are more in favor with the "from Iraq" inclusion. This result follows from the evidence reviewed here, which shows that Democrats feel the war in Afghanistan is more important than the war in Iraq, while Republicans say the opposite. Republicans favor sending more troops to Afghanistan regardless, but a little less so if it means taking them away from Iraq. Democrats are more likely to approve of moving troops to Afghanistan if they come from Iraq.