A majority of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling the crisis in Iraq, a new poll reveals.
The
Quinnipiac University survey found that 55 percent of American voters are disappointed with the president’s actions in Iraq, while 37 percent approve of his decisions for the war-torn country, which is under siege from militant fighters with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
The United States also gave Obama the thumbs down, by 52 percent to 42 percent, when it comes to his handling of the situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is slowly regaining ground.
But 46 percent of Americans say that the pace of U.S. troop withdrawal in Afghanistan is "about right" while 26 percent believe that Obama is moving "too quickly" and 20 percent say that the pullout is not going "quickly enough."
In military households, 32 percent of voters say the Afghan withdrawal is going "too quickly" while 19 percent say "not quick enough" and 41 percent say "about right."
The poll also showed by a margin of almost 2 to 1, 61 percent to 32 percent, that Americans believe that invading Iraq in 2003 to oust leader Saddam Hussein was the wrong thing to do.
The 1,446 registered voters who took part in the poll believe by 58 percent to 37 percent that Obama made the right decision to withdraw all troops from Iraq in 2011.
By an overwhelming number, 51 percent to 27 percent, Americans blame former President George W. Bush for the current ISIS crisis following his decision to go into Iraq to seek weapons of mass destruction, which were never actually found.
However, only 35 percent of voters say that Obama is better than Bush in conducting foreign policy, while 39 percent think he is worse.
The research also found that American voters from all party, gender, and age groups are strongly opposed to sending U.S. ground troops back into Iraq.
Nearly 40 percent of respondents do not even want the United States to launch airstrikes against the violent extremists heading to Baghdad in the Middle East country.
Twenty percent support the use of drone or cruise missiles strikes, with no risk to American pilots. Two percent want Obama to send in piloted bombers, and 30 percent support using both options.
"By 2-to-1, American voters believe the Iraq War was a mistake, and most say it was the fault of President George Bush, but President Obama isn’t exactly getting high marks for the way he has handled the two conflicts he inherited," Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll, said in a statement.
Malloy also said that 56 percent of Americans state that it’s not in the U.S. interest to get involved in Iraq, compared to 39 percent who think the opposite.
However, 7 out of 10 every Americans, 72 percent, are afraid that Islamic militants are "likely" or "somewhat likely" to "launch a terrorist attack against the United States in the near future" if they capture Iraq.
Nearly 40 percent of voters support the notion that the U.S. government should work with Iran to help defeat the Iraqi insurgents, although 51 percent are against the idea.
When it comes to gun control, the Quinnipiac survey revealed that the country is split over "stricter gun control" with 50 percent backing it and 47 percent opposed to such measures.
However, 9 out of every 10 Americans, 92 percent, are in favor of background checks for gun buyers, with just 7 percent saying that such checks are not needed. Gun owners also support background checks by a margin of 92 percent to 6 percent.
The survey also found that, overall, 58 percent of the nation supports government actions to limit greenhouse gas emissions to reduce global warming, while 38 percent are opposed to carbon reductions.
Republican voters are opposed to limits by 47 percent to 38 percent while all other party, gender and age groups support efforts to cut back on such emissions by a wide margin.
The poll was conducted from June 24 to 30 has a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.
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