AP poll: Tepid public support for Afghan surge

[unhappycamper]

AP poll: Tepid public support for Afghan surge
By Liz Sidoti - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 17, 2009 6:21:00 EST

WASHINGTON — Budget deficits are in the stratosphere. Unemployment has hit 10 percent. The health care overhaul is incomplete.

Still, Americans appear to like President Barack Obama and the way he’s doing his job.

The latest Associated Press-Gfk poll shows the president’s popularity holding steady, with 56 percent of those polled approving of the way he’s taking care of the country’s business. His marks for handling the 8-year-old war in Afghanistan have jumped by double digits, with more than half now approving, since he capped a three-month strategy review by announcing a big troop increase.

But despite his prime-time TV speech explaining how he reached his decision to boost U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 100,000, and begin bringing them home in July 2011, there was no change in the public’s resistance to escalation. Just 42 percent favor sending more troops while 56 percent oppose it, essentially unchanged from November.

The findings suggest limits to Obama’s persuasive skills — and underscore what’s seemingly become the public’s default position in his first year in office: People like him, but they’re squeamish about his policy.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_poll_afghanistan_121709/

[DrDan]

1. public still ties junior to these issues . . . so blame is shared

that will not last - I expect to see a sharp decline early next year when he goes over the 1-year mark - unless he begins to make progress instead of talking about it.