Public Opinion

"Do you approve or disapprove of the United States taking military actions against Iraq to try and remove Saddam Hussein from power?" [Percentage Saying Yes]

The CBS News/New York Times poll asked this question 14 times from February 2002 to March 2003. The percentage of respondents who said that they approved of U.S. military action fluctuated over this period from a high of 74 percent in February 2002 to a low of 64 percent in February 2003. The last time the question was asked, just before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, 66 percent of the respondents said that they approved of U.S. military actions against Iraq.

"Do you think the Bush administration has clearly explained the United States position with regard to possibly attacking Iraq?" [Percentage Saying Yes]

The CBS News/New York Times poll asked this question three times: once in September 2002 and twice in February 2003. The percentage of respondents who answered "yes" to this question more than doubled in this period, from a low of 27 percent in September 2002 to a high of 56 percent the first time the question was asked in February 2003 (and then dropping to 53 percent). This upward trend closely mirrors the higher number of misleading statements by Bush administration officials, beginning in September 2002. The Center’s analysis found 21 such statements in December 2002, for example, compared with 77 in January 2003 and 141 in February 2003—the month before the invasion of Iraq.

"Do you think Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon?" [Percentage Saying Yes]

The CBS News/New York Times poll asked this question six times from September 2002, when 51 percent of the respondents answered "yes," to May 2003, when 52 percent answered "yes." The low of 45 percent came in February 2003 and the high of 53 percent in April 2003, with the invasion of Iraq in between.

"Do you think Iraq probably does or probably does not have weapons of mass destruction that the U.N. weapons inspectors have not found yet?" [Percentage Saying Yes]

The CBS News/New York Times poll asked this question five times from February 2002 to April 2003. In February 2002, 80 percent of those asked this question answered "probably does." The percentage of respondents offering this answer dipped to a low of 75 percent in January 2003 and climbed to a high of 85 percent in February 2003. Between those two surveys, the Bush administration made arguably its two most critical statements concerning the case for war: the President’s State of the Union address (on January 28) and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell’s presentation to the U.N. Security Council, primarily concerning Iraq’s efforts to produce weapons of mass destruction. When the question was again asked in April 2003, following the invasion of Iraq, 81 percent of respondents answered "probably does."