Iraq Now A Success

Well what do you know, the public is now seeing the Iraq War as a success!

For the first time since Rasmussen Reports began polling on the issue, a plurality of voters in September say the U.S. mission in Iraq will be viewed as a success in the long term.

In a national telephone survey Monday night, 41% said history will rate the war in Iraq a success versus 39% who said it will be seen as a failure, with 20% undecided (see crosstabs). These findings echo those of the previous two weeks (see trends).

By contrast, in August of last year, 57% believed history would judge the U.S. mission in Iraq a failure, and only 29% disagreed.

Similarly, 46% say the United States is safer today than before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, but 34% disagree.

Funny how this breaks down:

The partisan gap on these questions is enormous. Seventy-three percent (73%) of Republicans say the U.S. mission in Iraq will be viewed as a success in the long-term, but only 16% of Democrats agree. Unaffiliated voters are evenly divided.

Seventy-six percent (76%) of Republicans say the situation in Iraq will get better in the next six months versus 23% of Democrats. Just over half of unaffiliated voters (51%) think the situation will improve.

Eighty percent (80%) of Republicans say the United States and its allies are winning the war on terror, but only 36% of Democrats agree, as do 52% of unaffiliateds.

Democrats: invested in failure.

Even if one dismisses the Republican optimism (and the reality on the ground), the stark difference between the Democrat pessimism and the evenly-divided stance of the unaffiliated voter (with apparently no political ax to grind) is revealing.