Pew Poll on Afghanistan

[pampango]

Afghanistan: Support for Troop Presence, Doubts about the Future

In June, shortly before President Obama announced his timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, a majority of Tea Party Republicans (55%) favored maintaining U.S. troops in the country until the situation has stabilized. Still, 42% supported withdrawing U.S. forces as soon as possible – double the percentage that did so just a year earlier (21%). For more, see “Record Number Favors Removing U.S. Troops from Afghanistan,” June, 21, 2011.

Across the political spectrum, there was little optimism that Afghanistan can maintain a stable government after most U.S. troops leave the country. Just 30% of Tea Party Republicans said it is likely that Afghanistan can maintain a stable government after most U.S. forces exit, as did 39% of Democrats and 44% of non-Tea Party Republicans.

After Obama’s announcement, the Pew Research Center and The Washington Post conducted a survey about the pace of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. A plurality of Americans (44%) said Obama was handling the withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan about right, while 29% said he was not removing them quickly enough, and 14% thought he was removing them too quickly.

The survey had no measure of Tea Party support, but Republicans generally were divided over Obama’s plan for drawing down U.S. forces: 32% said Obama was not removing the troops quickly enough, 28% said he was removing them too quickly, and 25% said he was handling this about right.

http://people-press.org/2011/10/07/strong-on-defense-and-israel-tough-on-china/