Americans are fairly evenly divided as to how history will judge the U.S. mission in Iraq. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that 37% now believe it will be considered a success in the long-term while 41% expect it will be seen as a failure. Twenty percent (20%) are not sure (demographic crosstabs are available for Premium Members).
These figures reflect a stunning turnaround over the past year or so. During the summer of 2007, only 27% believed that history would deem the Iraq mission a success while 56% held the opposite view.
Few Americans are eager for us to lose the war in Iraq. Much of the opposition to the war was based on fearing we would not win and worrying about the cost. Once it is won, those objections will fall away and the only opposition left will be those who think we deserve to lose or believe it would be good in the long run to be humbled by a loss.
You probably didn't hear about this poll in the papers or television news.
Can we at least stop our reporters from calling the Iraq War the "increasingly unpopular war" at long last?
