Poll: Potential U.S. Military Strike in Syria Most Unpopular in 20 years

[Logical]

Just 36 percent of Americans support President Barack Obama's call for air strikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad, who the U.S. claims used chemical weapons to kill about 1,400 Syrians, including more than 400 children, according to a Gallup survey released Friday. Obama said he would seek congressional approval before moving ahead with the intervention, but faces stiff opposition from members, the public and the international community.

"Failing to respond to this breach of this international norm would send a signal to rogue nations, authoritarian regimes and terrorist organizations that they can develop and use weapons of mass destruction and not pay a consequence," Obama said Friday during a news conference at the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. "And that's not the world that we want to live in."

The negative public opinion underscores why the president said he would address the public Tuesday to lay out his case for the intervention.

Gallup compiled public opinion on other recent military operations – from the Iraq War to Kosovo – all of which had more support than Obama's plan for Syria.

More at: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/09/06/poll-potential-us-military-strike-in-syria-most-unpopular-in-20-years

[jsr]

1. People are paying attention this time

[Logical]

2. I agree, and it is about time. n-t

[polichick]

3. Maybe both parties will run anti-war candidates in 2016...

Wouldn't that be fun?!

[frazzled]

4. We should probably get down on our knees and thank ...

George W. Bush for that!

Because people are wanting a do-over, a mulligan, whatever. Had he not decided peremptorily to invade Iraq we would probably be having an entirely different discussion about Syria (a rational one). The two are completely unrelated, of course, and the scope of what is being proposed is vastly different. But people have lost their taste for military action, whether justified or not.

So you should rejoice at the mayhem of the 9 year war that was Iraq. It will prevent us from making a very limited strike at military targets in Syria ... where a lot of mayhem actually exists.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. The two are related, if only via the sales team being the same, Kerry voted for Iraq and did

lots of WMD coming to get us fear talk as did Hagel. This casting has the administration looking like the last one. 'WMD, this must not stand I draw lines!!'

[Logical]

6. Good point! nt

[leftstreet]

7. Bush finally gets a legacy