Americans Don't Support The War On Afghanistan: "Lopsided Majority" Says Get Out

5/10/2011
By Susan Page, USA TODAY [Excerpts]

So with bin Laden finally gone, is it time for America's longest war to end?

Nearly six in 10 Americans think so, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken over the weekend.

Assessments of how the decade-long war is going have improved a bit, compared with six weeks ago, and a broad swath of Americans now agrees with the statement that the United States "has accomplished its mission in Afghanistan and should bring its troops home."

When the question was asked in a one-night poll immediately after bin Laden's death was announced May 1, 45% said it was time for U.S. troops to come home.

In a larger and more reliable three-day poll at the end of the week, that number had reached a lopsided majority.

The demographic groups that gave Obama his strongest support in the 2008 presidential election now are the most supportive of bringing the troops home.

That was the view of two-thirds or more of blacks, Hispanics, liberals, women under 50, those under 35, low-income Americans and unmarried people.

The conclusion that it's time to bring U.S. troops home isn't confined to Democrats. Among independents, 62% say the mission has been accomplished in Afghanistan.

Even Republicans, traditionally the most supportive of military action, are split: 47% say important tasks remain to be done in Afghanistan; 47% say it's time for the troops to come home.

In the survey, there was no major demographic group in which a majority says the U.S. deployment should be maintained.

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