Is America Still Supporting the Fight?

According to a new Public Opinion Strategies poll - for what that's worth - a majority of Americans want to win in Iraq. This, contrary to the majority of elected representatives. Here are some excerpts:

By a 53 percent - 46 percent margin, respondents surveyed said that "Democrats are going too far, too fast in pressing the President to withdraw troops from Iraq."

By ... 57 percent - 41 percent margin, voters agreed with these two statements: "I support finishing the job in Iraq, that is, keeping the troops there until the Iraqi government can maintain control and provide security" and "the Iraqi war is a key part of the global war on terrorism."

32 percent said "whether Iraq is stable or not, the U.S. should set and hold to a strict timetable for withdrawing troops."

However, the numbers still look bleak when those surveyed were asked if we should "do whatever it takes" to get Iraqis on their feet:

27 percent said "the Iraq war is the front line in the battle against terrorism and our troops should stay there and do whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country."

The icing on the cake for me is that only 17% feel that "the U.S. should immediately withdraw its troops from Iraq." More demoralizing, however, is the number of people who support "a strict timetable for withdrawing troops"; 32%. That's considerably less than the percentage of the representative majority in Congress who support timetables and a withdraw.

I'd like to say that these positive numbers would see more light had Anna Nicole not choked to death on her own stupidity, but I've seen more important news and tidbits fall through the media's cracks before.

What's more unfortunate, is that even though the numbers are surprisingly low, they will no doubt rise over the next two years.