With the war in Iraq hitting its tenth birthday, it seems like a good time to ask how Americans feel about the conflict. A recent survey from the Media and Public Opinion (MPO) Research Group found that in the early stages of the war, over half of Americans (57%) supported the intervention. Of those, however, a third have changed their mind and now say it was the wrong thing to do.
When the data is broken down by gender, it seems that women were more opposed to the war from the beginning (37% of women and 28.1% of men said then never supported it), but the numbers were equal (19% of men and 19.5% of women) when it came to those who supported the war at first but have since changed their minds.
Among different age cohorts, the youngest groups are the most supportive of the war: 50.8% of those 18-19 and 40.2% of respondents in their twenties say the supported the war in the beginning and still think it was the right thing to do. Respondents in their forties and fifties were the most likely to have opposed the war when it started (46.2% and 41% respectively).
Education levels also showed some relation to opinion on the war, with respondents reporting the highest levels of education also the most likely to report that they have opposed the war over the past ten years. Respondents with less education (high school or community college) are more likely to have switched from supporting the war to opposing it, but consistent support of the conflict is fairly even across all education levels (around 38%).
Among different ethnic groups, Caucasians have been the most consistently supportive of the war in Iraq, with 44.3% saying they supported the war at the start and still think it was the right thing to do. Asian Americans are the most likely to have changed their minds over the past ten years: 49.3% say they supported the war at first, but now think it was the wrong thing to do.
Surveys are conducted by MPO from a national panel of over 5,000 randomly selected individuals in the United States, accurately reflecting all backgrounds in terms of age, education, ethnicity, gender and political affiliation.
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