Americans Want to Begin Drawdown of Troops in Iraq but Not a Quick Pullout: Confidence in Success of Mission Low and Getting Lower

A large majority of Americans want to begin drawing down US troops in Iraq, although only one in four favors a quick pullout, according to a new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll. Two out of three perceive that the situation in Iraq is getting worse, and a clear majority expresses low confidence that the US intervention will succeed. A majority is not convinced that a US withdrawal would make the situation in Iraq worse than it is. Support for drawing down US troops does not appear to be related to the growing number of US troop fatalities. The strongest factor appears to be the perception that the presence of US troops provokes more attacks, followed by the lack of confidence that the operation will ultimately succeed