As suspense builds for Monday’s much hyped status report by the United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq, a new poll shows more Americans support the United States “going it alone” in taking military action to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
A poll conducted by Scott Rasmussen Public Opinion Research found 46 percent of Americans in favor of taking action without U.N. backing. Only 36 percent said it would be better to cooperate with U.S. allies and leave Hussein in power.
The data are from a national telephone survey of 1,000 adults conducted Jan. 22 – 23. The margin of error for the full sample is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.
Rasmussen’s data also suggest U.N. inspections have convinced more Americans that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Seventy-five percent now believe that Saddam Hussein has nuclear or biological weapons. That figure is up from 69 percent earlier in the month. Only 8 percent think Hussein is telling the truth in declaring he has no such weapons.
At the same time, Rasmussen’s poll found that 48 percent hold a favorable opinion of the U.N. Thirty-one percent have an unfavorable opinion and 21 percent are not sure.
By comparison, polls show more Americans hold a favorable opinion of President Bush’s performance.
A Fox News poll conducted last week showed the president’s job approval rating down slightly, to 63 percent, slightly higher than a Gallop poll which showed the rating slipped to 61 percent and a CNN-USA Today poll which had the rating down to 58 percent last week. The CNN-USA Today poll marked the first time Bush’s approval rating had dropped below 60 percent since before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Earlier survey results found Americans overwhelmingly prefer to act with the support of allies, when given the choice.
But developments this week make the choice of taking military action in the immediate future with the blessing of the U.N. Security Council appear less likely. France, Germany, Russia and China have expressed opposition to “rushing” into war and call for giving inspections more time.
In his daily White House briefing, spokesman Ari Fleischer acknowledged the mounting antiwar sentiment but emphasized allies, including Britain, Australia, Italy, Spain and “virtually all of the eastern European countries,” would back U.S. action.
Such support appears to be enough for Bush administration officials to run with. Citing authoritative sources in Washington and London, The Guardian reports that war with Iraq will be a reality within weeks.
President Bush is expected to “turn up the heat” in his annual State of the Union address Tuesday, the day after the U.N. inspectors’ report.
Fox News reports Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld briefed some 50 senators on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and and ties to al-Qaida in a closed-door session yesterday.
As WorldNetDaily reported last month, wide majorities of Americans believe Hussein will become more dangerous if the U.S. does not take military action to disarm him.
A Rasmussen poll found 63 percent of adults believe military action is needed sooner rather than later to ensure that Saddam does not become more powerful.
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