AP: Americans Have More Faith In Iraqi People, Than US Congress

Given where the Iraq War discussion is today, here are a few questions that matter from a recent AP poll. See more poll discussion below. Congressional Democrats would be wise to pay attention to these answers. The majority of Americans believe in the Iraqi people, much more so than they do Congress's ability to run a war.

9a. Would you favor or oppose Congress cutting all funding for the Iraq war?

-Favor, 29 percent

-Oppose, 68 percent

-Not sure, 3 percent

9b. Would you favor or oppose Congress cutting funding for the additional troops President Bush wants to send to Iraq?

-Favor, 38 percent

-Oppose, 60 percent

-Not sure, 2 percent

12. Do you think most Iraqi civilians are ...

-Sympathetic to the insurgency, 22 percent

-Opposed to the insurgency, 66 percent

-Not sure, 12 percent

But there are also obvious issues with the recent AP poll. Look at these two questions:

1. I'm going to read you a list of words that might describe how some people feel when they hear news about the ongoing situation in Iraq. As I read each one, please tell me if the word describes how you personally feel when you hear news about Iraq, or not. Does this word describe how you feel when you hear news about the ongoing situation in Iraq?

From Q - 1: Hopeful  -Yes, 51 percent  -No, 48 percent

Now from question 8. Do you think the war in Iraq is ...

-A worthy cause, 39 percent

-A hopeless cause, 56 percent

So 51% are hopeful when hearing news from Iraq, yet 56% feel it's a hopeless cause? Something doesn't make sense. And why contrast hopeless with worthy? The two words are not measures of a similar thing. It should have been unworthy cause, not hopeless, if they wanted to measure something, as oppose to write a lede sometime saying Americans think Iraq a hopeless cause. Obviously people are still hopeful for Iraq, or you wouldn't have the answers you do for Q's 9a and b  - both showing strong opposition to Congressional action interfering in the war.

And the AP may have gone to some length to be able to write a story headlined:

Americans Underestimate Iraqi Death Toll

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans are keenly aware of how many U.S. forces have lost their lives in Iraq, according to a new AP-Ipsos poll. But they woefully underestimate the number of Iraqi civilians who have been killed.

Really? Let's look at the details.

Iraqi civilian deaths are estimated at more than 54,000 and could be much higher; some unofficial estimates range into the hundreds of thousands. The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq reports more than 34,000 deaths in 2006 alone.

Putting aside that the AP doesn't even know the precise number, let's go to the poll question. Could it be more manipulative? From 10k and under they use a 5k spread, then suddenly jump to 40k spreads above 10,000. Are the 21% who think the number is between 10 - 50 thousand closer to 50,000, putting them near the mark? Or are they closer to 10,000, making them woefully low in their guess. I say guess, as that mostly looks like what this is - and the way the questions were formulated gave them the lower median number.

In essence, if you thought the number was about 50,000, you could end up in either of the two categories in bold below, depending on whether you wanted to be conservative, or err on the high side.

You could just as easily say 47% either aren't sure, or think it's somewhere between 10 - 750 thousand. Why dress up a guessing game when it comes to casuality figures as a poll? Consider the source.

16. Just your best guess, how many Iraqi civilians have died in Iraq since the war began there in March 2003?

-Fewer than 1,000, 8 percent

-1,001 to 5,000, 24 percent

-5,001 to 10,000, 20 percent

-10,001 to 50,000, 21 percent

-50,001 to 100,000, 11 percent

-100,001 to 250,000, 6 percent

-More than 750,000, 5 percent

-Not sure, 4 percent

MEDIAN - 9,890

Poll methodology also linked above.