President Bush, of course, is fond of comparing his folly in Iraq with World War II and it is oft commented by his supporters that had there been polls during that war they would have showed the support of a fickle public ebbing and flowing with every battle won and lost. But Josh Marshall notes at Talking Points Memo that there was actually fairly extensive polling of public opinion during the Big One:
"The key point is that many polls were taken during the war. And approval of the president's conduct of the war, understanding and belief in the goals of the war and other similar measurements all remained constant at very high levels or in some cases actually went up. One key data point you can see on the chart is the number of Americans will to make peace with Hitler -- that is, an negotiated end to the war rather than the unconditional surrender which was a key allied war demand. The number was under 10 percent for most of 1942 and 1943. Then it briefly surged up to just over 20 percent in early 1944 (roughly the time of the invasion of Italy) before falling back down to about 15 percent for duration of the war in Europe."The bravery of the men and women in Iraq has never been an issue, but to compare the global pushback against fascism with Iraq dishonors World War II veterans and their families, friends and fellow citizens on the homefront who never wavered in their support for this just cause.
Click here for a larger image of the chart.
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