- SILICON VALLEY (PTI) -- Public
support for military action against Iraq is waning, with just over half
of Americans supporting use of force to oust Saddam Hussein from power,
two recent polls indicate.
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- A poll conducted by the Pew Research Centre for the People
and the Press from Oct 17 to Oct 27 found that 55 per cent of Americans
support an attack on Iraq, down from 62 per cent earlier in the month and
64 per cent in August.
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- The poll found that a large percentage of Americans are
concerned about possible consequences of an attack, including the deployment
of chemical or biological weapons against US forces, heavy military casualties
and increased terrorist attacks on America.
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- Opposition to war against Iraq has been slowly growing
with 34 per cent (one-in-three Americans) now opposing military action,
up from 28 per cent earlier in October and 21 per cent in late August.
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- Another poll by Fox News found that support for a military
campaign had declined from 72 per cent to 62 per cent in recent weeks.
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- Commenting on the growing public opposition, Pew Research
Centre Director, Andrew Kohut, said "may be it takes a while for people
to think through some of their concerns and there are many concerns as
expressed in these polls."
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- "Indeed we found close to 60 per cent saying they
were worried that Saddam Hussein might use biological and chemical weapons
against US forces, 53 per cent saying that chances of domestic terrorism
would increase," he told the National Public Radio.
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- The survey found that Americans today are much more worried
about the possibility that war with Iraq might lead to increased terrorism
in the US than was the case in 1991 when this question was first asked
some 11 years ago.
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- Fifty-one per cent of the survey respondents were worried
about increase in domestic terrorism, compared with 33 per cent in January
1991 after the Gulf War began.
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- "The percentage of people who say that we should
do it even if we don't have ally support is only 27 per cent in this survey.
So that is the hurdle that President Bush still has to jump," Kohut
said.
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- In September, 33 per cent of those survey said they would
favour military action against Baghdad if the allies did not go along.
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- The latest nationwide Pew Research Centre survey of 1,751
also found that, with midterm elections on Tuesday, the prospect of war
with Iraq and other major national issues are not affecting voters' views
of the two parties.
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- Republicans continue to be seen as better able to handle
Iraq and terrorism, while Democrats hold the advantage on Social Security.
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- Perhaps most important, neither party has a significant
edge on the economy, the issue that voters most want to hear discussed
in their state and local races.
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