Fewer know number of US deaths in Iraq (Only 28% - down from 54% last year)

[sabra]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Fewer people know how many U.S. troops have died in the war in Iraq, even as public attention to the conflict has gradually diminished, a poll showed Wednesday.

Only 28 percent correctly said that about 4,000 Americans have died in the war, according to a survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

That's down from last August, when 54 percent gave the accurate casualty figure, which was about 3,500 dead at the time. In previous Pew surveys dating to 2004, about half have correctly given the rough figure for the approximate number of deaths at the time.

In the new poll, around a third said about 3,000 U.S. troops have died while about one in 10 said 2,000 deaths. Fewer overestimated the number of casualties: about a quarter put the figure close to 5,000.

Exit polls of voters in presidential primaries and many national surveys have shown the economy has displaced the war in recent weeks as the public's choice as the nation's top problem.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080312/ap_on_go_ot/us_iraq_poll_1

[tridim]

1. You can't be a passive news consumer and be expected to know the numbers

Since the MSM doesn't report on Bush's war any more.

I only know the number is 4000+ because of DU and other progressive sites.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. It was being mentioned more in the media a year ago.

Now it's being buried as deeply as possible.

I sometimes forget how poorly the MSM actually does at reporting the news until something happens to remind me. Such as the other day I was speaking with a person about how things appeared to be taking a turn for the worse in Baghdad again. They had no idea what I was talking about. They're as anti-Iraq war as I am, but they just don't pursue news via the same venues as I do.

Just yesterday I had Headline News on in the background and I heard an anchorperson actually use the word 'sicko' in a news story regarding CA seeking to pursue the DP for sex offenders. Last I knew 'sicko' wasn't considered a proper journalistic reference for a pedophile.

[Uncle Joe]

3. No small wonder, as the corporate media hasn't been reporting on them,

except sporadically.

[donkeyotay]

4. A much higher number believe "the surge is working"

Not knowing that we are rapidly approaching an easily remembered number, 4000, helps the belief.

[Voltaire99]

5. That's because they're largely the poor, whom Americans detest.

The "volunteer" army made up of economic conscripts isn't of much concern to a nation that hates its poor.

Oh, people "support" the troops, of course. What they mean is: their patriotism is best demonstrated by having somebody else's son or daughter get fucked up in Iraq. NIMBY! Not in my gene pool!

Isn't it interesting how Americans will sneer at the poor -- in their jokes, their movies, their political punditry -- and yet, the moment you slap a uniform on these same people, suddenly everything changes? That's relief. That's understanding their kids are spared fighting for the empire.

You know, I hate war. But I've come to hate this moral complacency almost as much. Doesn't matter whether it's manifested in Hillaryism or McCainism; it's all the same.

It's a Faustian bargain, corrosive in every way, and a reason why we need cultural renewal much more than a simple change in political leadership.

I'm not holding my breath.

[Cabcere]

6. Too damn many.

:( When will it end?

[BRLIB]

7. Media got their tongues up B's sphincter.

Part of the strategy, just like the "surge".
And their love fest with "McSame as Bush".

Dems will be vilified and trashed and polls manipulated to kill the nominee.