[Article] Poll reveals 2-1 against war, 75% anti-Bush

dahamsta

Poll reveals 2-1 against war, 75% anti-Bush

Sunday March 30th 2003

JIM CUSACK

THREE out of four Irish adults are unhappy with US President George Bush's handling of the Iraq crisis and a majority is also unimpressed by the Taoiseach's performance over US planes refuelling at Shannon.

But 54 per cent agree that it is in Ireland's national economic interest to support the US in its war against Iraq. The poll shows 31 per cent disagree with this view.

The latest Sunday Independent /Millward Brown IMP poll also shows a fall in core support for Fianna Fail from 39 to 31 per cent and there are further falls in satisfaction with both the Taoiseach and Tanaiste. Only 33 per cent are satisfied with the Government - a rise of two points since October of last year but still massively down from last May (58 per cent). The poll shows a swing in opinion away from support for the United States' foreign military policy and a fall in support for the use of Shannon as a stopover for US aircraft carrying troops to the Gulf.

However, despite vocal opposition, opinion is still surprisingly divided over the Shannon issue. Those disapproving are 49 per cent while 43 per cent approve. This still marks a fall in support for the use of Shannon since the post-September 11 period, when 63 per cent backed its use by American military aircraft. A majority of 54 per cent now also feel the Shannon policy compromises Irish neutrality.

The most striking finding of the poll, however, is the very high level of disapproval for President Bush and his handling of the Iraq crisis. Those dissatisfied were 75 per cent, only 18 per cent were satisfied, and 6 per cent had no opinion or did not know. This contrasts sharply with the post-September 11 period, when a Sunday Independent poll found that 56 per cent of Irish people felt Bush was doing a good job in responding to terrorism. At that point, only 34 per cent were dissatisfied with the president's performance.

In the latest poll, carried out nationwide on Thursday last with a sample of 1,075 people questioned, 62 per cent said they disapproved (only 29 per cent approved) of the US-led invasion to secure Iraq's disarmament and remove Saddam Hussein. The latest poll shows the growing uneasiness among Irish people over US and British foreign military policy in response to the threat of international terrorism. In the immediate aftermath of September 11, support for the US and its allies taking action against countries believed to be giving aid and comfort to those who carried out the attacks on New York and Washington stood at 48 per cent.

The latest poll also shows a lack of strong support for the Taoiseach's handling of the crisis. Those who felt he had performed poorly or very poorly were 42 per cent, while 32 per cent believed his performance was good or very good. Even 29 per cent of those who voted Fianna Fail at the last election felt his handling of the crisis was poor or very poor, against 46 per cent of supporters who felt he has done well.

A sense of pragmatic self-interest, possibly arising from the level of American investment in the economy, is strongly reflected in the reasons given for approving of Shannon's use by the US military. Some 67 per cent of people who approve of allowing the airport to be used by US aircraft on their way to the Gulf said they felt it was in Ireland's best interests to be seen to support the US and Britain.

Those who disapproved of the use of Shannon were divided equally in their reasons - 42 per cent said they were against war in principle while another 42 per cent cited the absence of a further UN resolution. There were 12 per cent of those supporting the landing of US military aircraft who said they did so because they approved of the war. People under the age of 30 are the most against (63 per cent of under 24s) and those over 35 are generally in favour (64 per cent of over 65s).

On the domestic political front, the latest poll shows that Fianna Fail core support has dropped from 39 per cent last October to 31 per cent.

Satisfaction with the Taoiseach fell by 2 per cent (to 41 per cent) since last October. However, this represents a significant fall in support since September 2001 when his satisfaction rating stood at 70 per cent. There was a six-point fall in satisfaction with the Tanaiste, Ms Harney. Satisfaction with the Government rose from 31 per cent in last October to 33 per cent. But this is still a major decline since September 2001 when the approval level was at 64 per cent. The poll shows levels of support for Fine Gael standing still since October at 17 per cent. Labour support is also static at 10 per cent for the same period. The Progressive Democrats are static at 3 per cent. However, there are falls for both Sinn Fein and the Green Party. Sinn Fein's rating, which reached a high last October at 9 per cent, has fallen back to 7 per cent. The Greens are also down from a high of 6 per cent last October to 4 per cent.

© Irish Independent

I know I'm supposed to comment, but this is a factual report, I'm just posting it here for reference.

adam

swiss

Sounds exactly like an opinion survey which was carried out on me a few days ago. Some woman pulled up next to me in a car while I was walking down the street and asked me pretty much all of the questions mentioned in the post above. Less than professional I will admit, and I felt a little uneasy when I was asked for my address and telephone number, but I think it was important to send some message out to the government, your electorate disapprove of your actions.

I see my answers were broadly reflective of the opinions of other people questioned. Frankly, I'm not in the least surprised by the results of this opinion survey. Whether the government are going to do anything about it though is a debatable matter, I suspect they are going to continue with their deeply patronising "we know best" attitude.