What Would Americans Tell President Bush to Do About Iraq?

What Would Americans Tell President Bush to Do About Iraq?:

"There are several conclusions from these data:

• The largest category of responses from the public -- offered by a majority of 54% -- would be to advise President Bush to focus on removing the troops from Iraq and exiting the country, leaving the situation in the control of the Iraqis. This includes 39% of Americans who would advise Bush to simply get U.S. troops out of Iraq now.

• A second group, representing one-fourth of Americans, would advise the president to essentially "stay the course" or to be even more aggressive in the country's military actions.

• A smaller category would advise the president to work with others in finding a solution, including an advisory board or the United Nations.

• Six percent would advise the president to admit his past mistakes and apologize.

Partisan Differences

There are significant differences by partisan orientation in the responses to this question in the current data:

If you could talk with President Bush for fifteen minutes about the situation in Iraq, what would you, personally, advise him to do? [OPEN-ENDED]
	Total sample	Reps.	Inds.	Dems.
	%	%	%	%
Pull the troops out and come home/end it	39	21	37	57
Finish what was started/be more aggressive	11	17	11	4
Doing a good job/continue with your actions	11	24	8	2
Come up with and execute a well thought-out exit strategy	12	9	12	13
Get them trained and let them run their own country	5	5	7	3
Build up the military/send more troops	3	5	4	2
Keep the public informed/be honest/explain actions	1	2	2	1
Join in and work with the United Nations	3	1	3	4
Admit to past mistakes/apologize	6	2	8	8
Take care of our own problems	2	*	2	2
Work with and improve advisory board	4	5	4	3
Improve the homeland security	1	1	1	-
Other	7	9	7	5
Nothing/Don't know	5	6	6	4
* = Less than 0.5% There are also a couple conclusions from these data:

• More than half of Democrats would tell President Bush to pull the troops out and/or to execute a well thought-out exit strategy. Another 8% would tell the president to admit his past mistakes.

• Republicans, not surprisingly, are much more likely to say they would tell the president that he is doing a good job and to continue, and to be more aggressive in finishing what he has started. Still, 21% of Republicans would tell the president to pull the troops out, and another 9% would tell him to focus on an exit strategy.

Bottom Line

The majority of Americans, as measured in a number of Gallup Poll surveys this year, believe the initial decision for the United States to become involved in Iraq was a mistake. Research also shows a majority of Americans favor a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that Americans -- if given the chance to talk with President Bush about Iraq -- would be most likely to tell him to figure out a way to withdraw U.S. troops from there.

The president maintains the loyalty of a smaller group of Americans -- one in four -- who are supportive of his current actions or would even want him to be more aggressive.

The administration argues that the war in Iraq is a necessary part of the war on terror, and that it is imperative to succeed. The president and members of his administration have said repeatedly that any type of discussion of withdrawal or the setting of a timetable is unacceptable at this time and would be tantamount to failure. These arguments notwithstanding, however, the majority of the American public would instruct their president to focus on withdrawal of troops and the development of an exit strategy. "

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/Default.aspx?ci=27724