Poll: US Opposition to Afghan War Hits New High

Opposition Levels Unseen Since Vietnam War

A new AP/Gfk poll is showing that the trend of opposition to the Afghan War continues, with an overwhelming 66% of Americans now opposed to the conflict, with only 8 percent of Americans remaining “strongly” in support of it.

The AP compared the poll to a late 1971 poll on the Vietnam War, which showed 65% of Americans opposed to continuing that war. But while the US was slowly beginning its withdrawal from Vietnam at that time, President Obama is just one week off of signing a deal to keep US troops occupying Afghanistan through 2024.

Surprisingly, the false narrative of Obama as in touch with the opposition to the war and moving to extricate America from the conflict remains at least somewhat intact, with a slight majority (53%) approving of President Obama’s handling of Afghanistan.

Still and all, every poll is securely showing a supermajority of voters in opposition to the Afghan War, and sooner or later it seems like that opposition must make the administration’s determination to escalate and extend the war is going to become a political liability.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.