Americans Say U.S. and Allies Winning War on Terrorism

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- The latest Gallup poll finds a majority of Americans saying the United States and its allies are winning the war against terrorism. According to the poll, conducted Nov. 8-11, before the Northern Alliance troops in Afghanistan captured the capital city of Kabul, 53% said the United States and it allies are winning, while 33% said neither side is winning and just 11% said the terrorists are winning. When this question was last asked, in October, a plurality (44%) said that neither side was winning, while 42% said the United States and 11% said the terrorists were winning.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, a number of polls have shown that roughly nine in 10 Americans have supported U.S. military action. Thus, it is not surprising that only 9% currently say the United States "made a mistake in sending troops to Afghanistan," while 89% say it did not. This question parallels a long-standing Gallup measure that assesses public support for specific U.S. military interventions. The 9% "mistake" figure is the lowest level of public criticism of the use of U.S. troops that Gallup has recorded for any conflict dating back to the Korean War. The previous low was 10% at the conclusion of the Persian Gulf War.

War on Terrorism Compares Favorably to Prior Foreign Conflicts

Typically during the early stages of a war, the public overwhelmingly supports military action and says that sending troops is not a mistake. For example, the percentage saying the United States "made a mistake" sending military forces was just 20% at the beginning of the Korean War, 24% at the beginning of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, and 17% at the beginning of the Persian Gulf War. There has been only one exception to this general pattern -- 42% thought it was a mistake to send U.S. troops to Yugoslavia in 1999, but still, 51% disagreed.

Mistake To Send Military Forces?

As wars drag on, Americans in greater numbers come to believe that it was a mistake to send troops. Throughout much of the Korean War, for example, more Americans thought it was a mistake to send troops than did not. However, at the conclusion of the war, the public's assessment of the decision to send troops changed. As the war ended, just 34% said it was a mistake to send troops, the lowest level observed in that war since the initial reading of 20%.

Mistake To Send Military Forces: Korea

For the first two years of the Vietnam War -- from 1965 to 1967 -- Americans generally believed that sending U.S. troops was the correct decision. However, by February 1968, more Americans said sending troops to Vietnam was a mistake than said it was not, and by 1971 six in 10 Americans thought it was a mistake.

Mistake To Send Military Forces: Vietnam

Throughout the 1990-1991 conflict in the Persian Gulf, Americans generally supported the decision to send in troops. Over the course of that conflict, at most 30% of Americans thought sending troops to the Persian Gulf region was a mistake, as measured in a poll conducted Jan. 3-6, 1991. Once the fighting started later that month, just 16% of Americans said that sending troops was a mistake, and at the conclusion of the war in early March, only 10% thought so.

Mistake To Send Military Forces: Persian Gulf

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,005 adults, 18 years and older, conducted Nov. 8-11, 2001. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Who do you think is currently winning the war against terrorism -- [ROTATED: the U.S. and its allies, neither side, or the terrorists]?

BASED ON -- 493 -- NATIONAL ADULTS; ±5 PCT. PTS.

 

		U.S. and its allies	Neither side	The terrorists	No opinion
War on Terrorism
2001 Nov 8-11		53%	33	11	3
2001 Oct 11-14		42%	44	11	3
Persian Gulf War ^		U.S. and its allies	Neither side	Iraq	No opinion
1991 Feb 14-17		75%	21	1	3
1991 Jan 19-22		66%	26	*	3
^	Who do you think is currently winning the war in the Persian Gulf -- the U.S. and its allies, Iraq, or neither side?

Do you think the United States made a mistake in sending military forces to Afghanistan, or not?

BASED ON -- 512 -- NATIONAL ADULTS; ±3 PCT. PTS.

 

	Yes	No	No opin.			Yes	No	No opin.
	%	%	%			%	%	%
Afghanistan					Vietnam War
2001 Nov 8-11	9	89	2		1971 May 14-17	61	28	11
					1971 Jan 8-11	60	31	9
Yugoslavia					1970 May 21-26	56	36	8
1999 Jun 4-5	43	53	4		1970 Apr 2-7	51	34	15
1999 Apr 21	42	51	7		1970 Jan 15-20	57	32	11
					1969 Sep 17-22	58	32	10
Persian Gulf War					1969 Jan 23-28	52	39	9
1991 Jul 18-21	15	82	3		1968 Sep 26-Oct 1	54	37	9
1991 Feb 28-Mar 3	10	87	3		1968 Aug 7-12	53	35	12
1991 Feb 7-10	21	76	3		1968 Apr 4-9	48	40	12
1991 Jan 30-Feb 2	18	80	2		1968 Feb 22-27	49	42	9
1991 Jan 23-26	18	77	5		1968 Feb 1-6	46	42	12
1991 Jan 17-20	16	80	4		1967 Dec 7-12	45	46	9
1991 Jan 11-13	29	65	6		1967 Oct 6-11	47	44	9
1991 Jan 3-6	30	61	9		1967 Jul 13-18	41	48	11
1990 Dec 6-9	28	66	6		1967 Apr 19-24	37	50	13
1990 Nov 29-Dec 2	29	66	5		1967 Jan 26-31	32	52	16
1990 Nov 15-18	27	65	8		1966 Nov 10-15	31	52	17
1990 Nov 8-11	27	68	5		1966 Sep 8-13	35	48	17
1990 Nov 2-4	25	67	8		1966 May 5-10	36	49	15
1990 Oct 25-28	24	71	5		1966 Mar 3-8	26	59	15
1990 Oct 18-21	26	67	7		1965 Aug 27-Sep 1	24	60	16
1990 Oct 11-14	27	68	5
1990 Oct 3-4	21	71	8		Korean War
1990 Sep 27-30	20	73	7		2000 Jun 6-7	34	47	19
1990 Sep 14-16	18	73	10		1953 Jan 11-16	36	50	14
1990 Sep 10-11	19	76	5		1952 Oct 17-22	43	37	19
1990 Aug 30-Sep 2	16	76	8		1952 Oct 9-14	43	37	20
1990 Aug 23-26	18	76	6		1952 Feb 28-Mar 5	51	35	14
1990 Aug 16-19	17	75	8		1951 Aug 3-8	42	48	11
					1951 Jun 16-21	43	40	17
Vietnam War					1951 Apr 16-21	37	45	18
2000 Nov 13-15	69	24	7		1951 Mar 26-31	45	43	12
1995 Apr 21-24	71	23	6		1951 Feb 4-9	49	41	9
1990 Mar 15-18	74	22	4		1951 Jan 1-5	49	38	13
1973 Jan 12-15	60	29	11		1950 Aug 20-25	20	65	15

 

YUGOLSLAVIA WORDING: In view of the developments since we entered the fighting in Yugoslavia, do you think the United States made a mistake sending military forces to fight in Yugoslavia?

PERSIAN GULF WAR WORDING (Feb. 28-Mar 3, 1991-Jul. 18-21, 1991): In view of the developments since we first sent our troops to the Persian Gulf region, do you think the United States made a mistake in sending troops to the Persian Gulf region, or not?

PERSIAN GULF WAR WORDING (Aug. 16-19, 1990-Feb. 7-10, 1990): In view of the developments since we first sent our troops to Saudi Arabia, do you think the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Saudi Arabia, or not?

VIETNAM WAR WORDING (1990-2000): Looking back, do you think the United States made a mistake sending troops to fight in Vietnam?

VIETNAM WAR WORDING (1965-1973): In view of the developments since we entered the fighting in Vietnam, do you think the U.S. made a mistake sending troops to fight in Vietnam?

KOREAN WAR WORDING (2000): Based on what you have heard or read, do you think the United States made a mistake in going into the war in Korea, or not?

KOREAN WAR WORDING (Feb. 1951-Jan. 1953): Do you think the United States made a mistake in going into the war in Korea, or not?

KOREAN WAR WORDING (Aug. 1950-Jan. 1951): In view of the developments since we entered the fighting in Korea, do you think the United States made a mistake in deciding to defend Korea, or not?

* -- Less than 0.5%