Florida Poll finds support for President Bush fading

BY BILL RUFTY

NYT REGIONAL NEWSPAPERS

If last week's elections weren't proof enough of the public's disdain for President Bush and displeasure with the war in Iraq, a just-released poll of Florida voters drives home the point.

Two years ago, the Florida Poll asked whether the United States did the right thing in taking military action against Iraq.

At that time, 49.4 percent of the respondents said the country did the right thing, while 43.6 percent felt the country should have stayed out. Another 7 percent said they did not know.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061112/NEWS/611120409/1060/SNN

while 56.5 percent said the United States should have stayed out. Another 6.1 percent said they did not know, according to the poll of 500 likely voters conducted by The New York Times Co.'s Florida newspapers from Oct. 28 through Nov. 2. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.

In a related question, only three in 10 people now think the war is going very well or somewhat well compared to two years ago, when more than four in 10 said the war was going well or very well just 17 months after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

More voters -- almost half -- now say U.S. troops should leave as soon as possible. But an increase from two years ago in the number of people who say they don't know could indicate the difficulty voters are having when it comes to how to leave the area.

Registered Republicans are more supportive of the actions in Iraq, with 64 percent supporting them and 34 percent saying the United States should have stayed out of the country."
More at link in OP.