Polls: Powell’s Speech Effective

Polls: Powell’s Speech Effective

NewsMax Staff
Friday, Feb. 7, 2003

Both a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll and a WashingtonPost.com/ABC poll taken after Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Iraq report to the U.N. indicate that although a majority of Americans now support an invasion of Iraq, they were least persuaded by Powell’s assertion of links between Saddam Hussein and the al Qaeda terrorist network.

In the CNN poll, 49 percent of those polled indicated that the administration had successfully shown a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, with that percent climbing to 50 when considering only the responses of those who said they were familiar with the speech. Also, the CNN poll indicated that the immediate increase in support for invasion in this latter group rose from 50 percent to 57 percent.

In its key finding, the Post Poll indicated that 61 percent now believe that the administration has made the case for invasion -- up from 54 percent in a poll conducted after the president’s State of the Union address. Furthermore, in this convinced group a majority now support taking action against Iraq within the next few weeks – rather than waiting as some allies have insisted.

Other Post Poll results:

91 percent of the Republicans polled said they’ve now been given enough evidence to justify war, compared to 54 percent of political independents and 43 percent of Democrats.

78 percent of speech-watchers compared to 60 percent of non-watchers said that the administration has now shown “strong evidence” that Iraq possessed chemical or biological weapons.

Two in three continue to favor attacking Iraq, with slightly fewer than half of the country “strongly” supporting a military option -- unchanged from before the speech.

27 percent-now oppose going to war, down a little from before the speech.

Seven in 10 also believed that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, and a slightly larger proportion believe that Saddam Hussein is not cooperating with U.N. weapons inspectors.

Six in 10 believe Iraq is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Six in 10 Americans said they had seen or heard the speech or news accounts about it. Among this group, seven in 10 said there was now enough evidence to justify going to war.

Speech watchers were also more likely to say the United States has proven that Iraq is trying to develop nuclear weapons and that Iraq is not cooperating with U.N. weapons inspectors.

The Post poll sample a group of about 800 people chosen at random.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Al-Qaeda
Bioterrorism
Bush Administration
Great Speeches
Saddam Hussein/Iraq
War on Terrorism
Editor's note:
FREE - 4 Months to NewsMax.com’s Magazine. Check It Out - Get four FREE