New Gallup Poll:
What Would Americans Tell
President Bush to Do About Iraq?

Majority would tell president to bring troops
home from Iraq or develop exit strategy

by Frank Newport


GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
May 31, 2007

PRINCETON, NJ -- What would Americans say to President Bush if they could talk to him about the situation in Iraq for 15 minutes?

The majority of Americans -- if they could literally file through the Oval Office and talk to the man they elected to be the top executive and commander in chief of the country -- would tell President Bush to focus on developing an exit strategy from Iraq and removing U.S. troops from that country. A smaller group of one in four would tell the president to stay the course or even to be more aggressive in Iraq. Six percent would tell the president to own up to his mistakes in Iraq and apologize. About 7 percent would advise the president to work with study groups or the United Nations to figure out a solution to the Iraq dilemma. Only 5 percent would have nothing to say to Bush about what Americans' currently rank as the nation's most important problem.

The 15-Minute Question

These results are based on the verbatim responses to an open-ended question. The basic patterns of responses can be grouped given the following question wording:

If you could talk with President Bush for fifteen minutes about the situation in Iraq, what would you, personally, advise him to do? [OPEN-ENDED]


percent

FOCUS ON GETTING U.S. TROOPS OUT
OF IRAQ


54

Pull the troops out and come home/end it


39

Come up with and execute a well thought-out
exit strategy


12

Get them trained and let them run their own
country


5




FOCUS ON CONTINUING WITH CURRENT
POLICIES OR BECOMING MORE AGGRESSIVE


25

Doing a good job/continue with your actions


11

Finish what was started/be more aggressive


11

Build up the military/send more troops


3




ADMIT TO PAST MISTAKES/APOLOGIZE


6




WORK WITH OTHERS/UNITED NATIONS


7

Work with and improve advisory board


4

Join in and work with the United Nations


3




FOCUS ON DOMESTIC CONCERNS


4

Take care of our own problems


2

Keep the public informed/be honest/explain actions


1

Improve the homeland security


1




Other


7

Nothing


2

No opinion


3

Note: Percentages for each category may not total the sum of the percentages for each specific response because respondents were allowed to give multiple open-ended responses.

There are several conclusions from these data:

* The largest category of responses from the public -- offered by a majority of 54 percent -- would be to advise President Bush to focus on removing the troops from Iraq and exiting the country, leaving the situation in the control of the Iraqis. This includes 39percent of Americans who would advise Bush to simply get U.S. troops out of Iraq now.

* A second group, representing one-fourth of Americans, would advise the president to essentially "stay the course" or to be even more aggressive in the country's military actions.

* A smaller category would advise the president to work with others in finding a solution, including an advisory board or the United Nations.

* Six percent would advise the president to admit his past mistakes and apologize.

Partisan Differences

There are significant differences by partisan orientation in the responses to this question in the current data:

If you could talk with President Bush for fifteen minutes about the situation in Iraq, what would you, personally, advise him to do? [OPEN-ENDED]


Pull the troops out and come home/end it


Total 39


GOP 21


IND 37


DEM 57

Finish what was started/be more aggressive


Total 11


GOP 17


IND 11


DEM 4

Doing a good job/continue with your actions


Total 11


GOP 24


IND 8


DEM 2

Come up with and execute a well thought-out exit strategy


Total 12


GOP 9


IND 12


DEM 13

Get them trained and let them run their own country


Total 5


GOP 5


IND 7


DEM 3

Build up the military/send more troops


Total 3


GOP 5


IND 4


DEM 2

* = Less than 0.5percent

There are also a couple conclusions from these data:

* More than half of Democrats would tell President Bush to pull the troops out and/or to execute a well thought-out exit strategy. Another 8percent would tell the president to admit his past mistakes.

* Republicans, not surprisingly, are much more likely to say they would tell the president that he is doing a good job and to continue, and to be more aggressive in finishing what he has started. Still, 21percent of Republicans would tell the president to pull the troops out, and another 9percent would tell him to focus on an exit strategy.

Bottom Line

The majority of Americans, as measured in a number of Gallup Poll surveys this year, believe the initial decision for the United States to become involved in Iraq was a mistake. Research also shows a majority of Americans favor a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that Americans -- if given the chance to talk with President Bush about Iraq -- would be most likely to tell him to figure out a way to withdraw U.S. troops from there.

The president maintains the loyalty of a smaller group of Americans -- one in four -- who are supportive of his current actions or would even want him to be more aggressive.

The administration argues that the war in Iraq is a necessary part of the war on terror, and that it is imperative to succeed. The president and members of his administration have said repeatedly that any type of discussion of withdrawal or the setting of a timetable is unacceptable at this time and would be tantamount to failure. These arguments notwithstanding, however, the majority of the American public would instruct their president to focus on withdrawal of troops and the development of an exit strategy.

Survey Methods

Results are based on a series of surveys based on telephone interviews with approximately 1,000 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted by Gallup. For results based on any one total sample of national adults, one can say with 95percent confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error for any given survey is ±3 percentage points. For the aggregated group of interviews conducted between May 2005 and May 2007 used in portions of the above analysis, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.