RasmussenReports.com, November 13th, 2006
Forty percent (40%) of American voters believe the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror. The latest Rasmussen Reports survey finds that (32%) hold the opposite view and believe the terrorists are winning, The survey of 1,000 likely voters was taken in the days immediately preceding Election Day and the announcement of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation.
During Election 2004, the percentage who believed the U.S. and its allies were winning consistently topped 50%.
Rasmussen Reports has been tracking this question since January 2004. Our previous survey, conducted in late October, found that 38% of American adults thought the U.S. and its allies were winning. The results are not directly comparable since the current survey is based upon interviews with Likely Voters.
While a plurality believes that the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror, 50% believe that the war in Iraq ultimately will be judged a failure. Just 34% believe that, in the long-run, the mission will be viewed as a success.
Most (54%) likely voters rate President Bush’s handling of the war as “poor.” Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Democrats share that sentiment along with 21% of Republicans.
Fifty-one percent (51%) believe the situation in Iraq will worsen over the next six months. Slightly more than one-quarter of respondents (26%) believe they will improve and 15% say the situation will stay about the same.
Respondents are more closely divided on the question of our national safety. When asked if the United States is safer today than it was before the attacks of 9/11, 42% say it is and 45% disagree.
The national telephone survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports November 4-5, 2006. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.
