Poll: Half of Iraqis Want Democracy

[CShine]

Nearly 60 percent of Iraqis surveyed believe U.S.-led forces were wrong to invade Iraq, but half think that democracy is what their country needs most, according to a poll released Monday. But the poll also found that nearly 60 percent believe that the United States must help rebuild Iraq if it wants the country's interim government succeed.

The initial results of the latest poll were published as the coalition transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government in Baghdad two days earlier than expected.

The poll — conducted by Oxford Research International and funded by the University of Oxford — included interviews with 3,002 Iraqis across Iraq between May 19 and June 14. The margin of error was 1.82 percent.

Asked what Iraq needs in the next five years, 50 percent said democracy. Asked about the invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003, 59 percent said it was somewhat wrong or absolutely wrong, while 41 percent said it was somewhat or absolutely right. More than 80 percent of Iraqis said they have no confidence in U.S. and British forces. Asked about their presence in Iraq, 58 percent opposed it, and 42 percent supported it. Asked to characterize the forces, 72 percent called them either occupiers or exploiters, while nearly 28 percent called them liberators or peacekeepers.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=732&e=2&u=/ap/20040628/ap_on_re_mi_ea/britain_iraq

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. This is meaningless

You would probably get the same results if this poll were taken by US citizens about the US. Or anyplace else for that matter.

[daleo]

2. If you want to see the actual results, here they are:

http://www.oxfordresearch.com/Iraq%20June%202004%20Frequency%20Tables.PDF

They are surprisingly optimistic in my opinion. I wonder if their sample was really a random one.

On edit: The absolutely wrongs vastly outnumber the absolutely rights.

Absolutely right: 13.2%
Somewhat right: 27.6%
Somewhat wrong: 25.7%
Absolutely wrong: 33.5%

[Zynx]

3. Strip out the Kurds

And every poll in Iraq slides *hard* against us.

[denverbill]

4. Very stupid not to have a list of the questions.

Was the question : What kind of govt do you want? or what would you like to see in Iraq in the next 5 years? If it was the first question, 50% is pretty puny. Was this multiple choice or what?

Assuming they were asking what kind of govt they want, it seems kinda ridiculous to poll. If 50% of the people want democracy, that means 50% don't want democracy, which means 50% of the people don't think people's views on the issues should be respected. But if that's the case why the hell bother responding to a political poll?

[swag]

5. Wow - they're a lot like us

About half of Americans want democracy too.

[swag]

6. Wow - they're a lot like us

About half of Americans want democracy too.

[qanda]

7. The margin of error was 1.82 percent

WHAAATTTTT???? We don't live in a war zone and cannot get a poll with better than a 4% margin of error.

[daleo]

8. A few more interesting results:

- 83.7% place no priority at all on dealing with members of the former regime.
- 0.9% consider stopping attacks on coalition forces the most important priority. That goes up to 10% by third most important priority.
- in an open ended question of which leader people trust the most, Allawi didn't rate a mention. Chalabi was trusted most by 0.5% of people who mentioned a leader. Saddam Hussein got 1.5%.
- in the "don't trust" category, Chalabi led (42%) followed by Saddam (14%). Allawi got a mention here, coming in 6th in the "don't trust" parade with 5% mentioning him.
- 51% had absolutely no trust in the U.S./U.K. occupation forces, and 30% had little trust.
- 32% said attacks on coalition forces were acceptable political action.

Plenty more there, for those who like survey research.

[demoman123]

9. About half of Americans want democracy, too. n/t