Midterm Election: Referendum on War

[cal04]

In What Comes Down to a Referendum on Iraq, the Center Peels Away

It's two weeks away, and the 2006 midterm elections look like a referendum on Iraq, a war in which President Bush and his party have lost not just the political center but significant chunks of their base.

An improving economy notwithstanding, opposition to the war remains the prime issue driving congressional voter preference. And the war's critics include not just eight in 10 Democrats but 64 percent of independents, 40 percent of conservatives, 35 percent of evangelical white Protestants and a quarter of Republicans.

It matters: Among the four in 10 registered voters who favor the war in Iraq, 73 percent support the Republicans in their congressional districts. But many more, nearly six in 10, oppose the war, and 78 percent favor Democrats for the House.

That spells a continued, dramatic Democratic lead: Fifty-four percent of registered voters in this ABC News/Washington Post poll prefer the Democrats in their districts, 41 percent the Republicans. This is the highest level of Democratic preference we've seen in ABC/Post surveys this close to Election Day since 1984.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2600146&page=1

[MisterP]

1. how would this figure with pro-war Democrats?

many banged the drums of war loudly then, and continue to do so now, only saying they "take issue" with its conduct, like Westmoreland saying he could've won Vietnam if it weren't for lack of "support": just a "few more" troops, a "few more" planes, when we're invading a country and beating it up for our own selfish ends