Support for Iraq withdrawal date growing

Sen. Russ Feingold may have struck a responsive chord with voters with his call for a target date to witdraw US troops from Iraq by the end of 2006.

A new polling report from Pew Research Center says most measures of people's attitudes about Iraq don't show much change. But there is growing support for setting a timetable for withdrawal.

Feingold still stands alone in Congress as the only one with enough nerve to suggest a specific date.

The Pew report:

Despite a long summer with continued casualties, and a widely covered anti-war protest outside the president's vacation ranch, public attitudes on the war in Iraq are remarkable for their overall stability. Most continue to see the military effort in Iraq going either very (12%) or fairly (41%) well, and the proportion that says taking military action there was the right decision has held steady at 49%, while 44% think it was the wrong decision. A slim 51% majority believes the U.S. should keep military troops in Iraq until the situation has stabilized, while 45% want to bring troops home as soon as possible.

An equal number believes that military action in Iraq has helped the war on terrorism as say it has hurt. This represents a slight improvement since July, but is consistent with most measures taken since mid-2004 that show the public divided on this question.

...But Growing Call for Timetable

But public optimism about the long-term continues to wane, and support for setting a timetable for when U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Iraq has risen notably. The proportion of Americans who think the situation in Iraq is likely to turn out to be like Vietnam rose from 29% a year ago to 35% this June to 39% today. This shift has been most pronounced among independents and younger people. A year ago, just 29% of independents saw Iraq turning into another Vietnam; today, a 46% plurality expresses this view. And the number of Americans under age 30 who foresee Iraq becoming another Vietnam has doubled from 22% to 42% over the same time period.
In this regard, the most notable shift in public opinion about the situation in Iraq over the summer is increasing support for the idea of setting a timetable for troop withdrawal, from 49% in July to 57% today.
The idea of a timetable has opened up a rare fissure among typically unified Republicans. Currently, a 58% majority of moderate and liberal Republicans say the U.S. should set a timetable for when troops will be withdrawn from Iraq, up from 36% two months ago. By comparison, a 58% majority of conservative Republicans oppose the idea of setting such a timetable.