Spin City
Most Americans say things are going well for the United States in Iraq, but that answer has fallen to 56% from 70% a month ago and 86% on May 7, a week after President Bush declared combat largely over.
The poll finds most people have confidence in the president's leadership and character, but there is erosion on those questions, too. His scores on being "honest and trustworthy," 65%, and "cares about the needs of people like you," 57%, are still strong, but both are down 8 percentage points from a poll in April.
Analysts suggest that if the search for weapons drags on for months without success, if the U.S. death toll continues to mount and if Saddam Hussein is not found, critics will grow louder, support will drop and the public might begin calling for U.S. troops to leave Iraq.
"This bears the seeds for potential problems for the president down the road as he looks to re-election," said Mark Rozell, a political scientist at Catholic University of America in Washington.
[...]But the poll shows a 31-percentage-point drop since March 30 to 53% in public confidence that weapons of mass destruction will be found and a 22-point decline to 48% in the belief that Saddam Hussein will be killed or captured.
There was a 17-point drop since April 16, a week after the fall of Baghdad, to 56% in those saying the situation in Iraq was worth going to war.
[...]Bush's overall job rating, a solid 61%, has been on a gradual decline from a recent high of 71% in April, shortly after U.S. troops captured Baghdad.
-- from the USA Today article, the full title of which is Confidence in war effort slips; Bush support still strong [emphasis mine]
For ebnelson and others who seem not to appreciate "selective quotes" unless, of course, they support their opinions: read the actual poll results and, for probably the first time in your lives, draw your own conclusions instead of parroting someone else's.