Poll: U.S. Public Souring on Afghanistan

It looks like the U.S. is starting to drift toward Europe on the question of the mission in Afghanistan. The Washington Post reports:

A majority of Americans now see the war in Afghanistan as not worth fighting and just a quarter say more U.S. troops should be sent to the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

However, as the Post goes onto note, the President is enjoying support for his policies from Republicans:

Overall, seven in 10 Democrats say the war has not been worth its costs, and fewer than one in five support an increase in troop levels. Nearly two-thirds of the most committed Democrats now feel "strongly" that the war was not worth fighting. Among moderate and conservative Democrats, a slim majority say the United States is losing in Afghanistan.

Republicans (70 percent say it is worth fighting) and conservatives (58 percent) remain the war's strongest backers, and the issue provides a rare point of GOP support for Obama's policies. A narrow majority of conservatives approve of Obama's handling of the war (52 percent), as do more than four in 10 Republicans (43 percent).

The public clearly favors killing terrorists, but there does appear to be a well founded (in my view) skepticism of the administration's goal of "armed state building" in Afghanistan.

(AP Photos)