2013 Polling on Syria and now: it will be revealing

3 Comments

1. 

   seabe on April 8, 2017 at 6:35 pm

   Plenty of reasons for opinions to change on both sides because facts have changed since then. Also, we know everyone is a hypocrite at some point somewhere, but Republicans are the most consistent partisan pieces of shit short of Stalinists. We can see this in real time on the economy, where Democratic outlook has largely stayed the same or shifted down just a few percentage points, whereas Republicans go from like 30% to 60’s.

   Dems have plenty of reasons to change their mind, Republicans if they were honest should still oppose it in even larger numbers because of the lack of any kind of plan from Trump. One could imagine some D’s previously opposed may have even supported it had Clinton won since Assad continues to use chemical weapons after they were destroyed in 2014.

   Democratic Socialists of America put out a good statement, which is in stark contrast with the Assad apologia I see in comments here from “the left”:

   Democratic Socialists of America Condemns the U.S. Bombing of Syria

   The Trump administration has committed an act of war that both violates domestic law (having not been authorized by Congress) and international law (having not been authorized by the United Nations). Foreign power intervention, however, whether by Russia, the United States, Iran or the Gulf States, has only served to militarize the conflict and severely weaken the democratic forces within Syria. As illustrated by the futile U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, United States imperialist and unilateral military power cannot liberate the Syrian people. U.S. air power cannot surgically take out those individuals who develop and deploy chemical weapons; what it has done and will do is kill scores of innocent civilians.

   Therefore, we urge our members and friends to protest the Trump administration’s military action and to lobby Congress to halt any further U.S. military intervention. We urge our members and friends to protest all bombings of Syrians and the war waged by the Assad regime through foreign forces against the people of Syria. The U.S. coalition and Russia have been actively bombing Syria for years, as documented by https://t.co/tBPcySVVn4, in effect both siding with the regime, allegedly to fight ISIS (while the context of massive pro-regime violence is the fertile soil on which ISIS has grown). The Trump Tomahawk cruise missile strike continues a long-standing U.S. policy of bombing Syria, which is why Secretary of State Tillerson can state that these attacks are in accord with ongoing U.S. policy.

   In opposing all foreign military intervention in Syria we act to end the mass slaughter of civilians and to honor the memory of those civilians who fought for freedom, a fight that might have been won if not for the militarization of the conflict by the Assad regime and by U.S. and other foreign powers. As abhorrent as the use of chemical weapons may be, DSA opposes all forms of mass violence against civilians, including the U.S. bombing of mosques.

2. 

   Marie3 on April 8, 2017 at 10:45 pm

   Liberal and moderate both 53% opposed, and yet HRC went into the 2016 election with a get tougher on Assad position and can’t fathom why she lost.

   Evidence doesn’t suggest that HRC’s support was anywhere near as deep as the election results suggest; so, (outside of the Beltway) I would project some slippage from 45% support among moderates and more slippage among liberals.  That 56% support among Democrats isn’t going to hold for Trump; would be surprised if it even comes in at a majority.  The GOP number in support will increase, but doubt it will flip.  More Republicans seem to have become weary of the wars and have a gut sense that they are negatively impacting their lives.    

3. 

   Marie3 on April 9, 2017 at 9:44 pm

   Slate, August 26, 2013 – Least Popular War Ever?

   As Secretary of State John Kerry made the Obama administration’s most forceful statement yet on Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds just 9 percent of Americans supporting intervention in Syria, with about 60 percent opposed. As Max Fisher notes, this means intervention is even less popular among American than Congress. Unless those numbers turn around rapidly, it also could set a new standard for the American military going into battle without public support.  
   …
   I recognize there’s always a Rally `Round the Flag Effect and the level of support for action in Syria could change once the cruise missiles start flying and Americans feel the need to support the military action out of patriotism, but the baseline here is still pretty dismal. In an analysis of the Rally `Round the Flag Effect in the leadup to the Iraq War, James Lindsay of the Brookings Institution was impressed that the level of support for war had increased from “between 52 and 59 percent” to around 70 percent “as diplomacy began breaking down” in the months prior to the invasion.
   …

   Perhaps between 2003 and 2013 USians had learned something.