1/4 Of U.S. Teens Support The War In Iraq.
June 21, 2005
A new poll of U.S. youth aged 13 to 18 conducted by Harris Interactive shows that one-quarter (24%) of teens support the war in Iraq, down from 47 percent who felt this way in April 2003, shortly after the war began. At the same time, teens are somewhat less worried that a terrorist attack will take place near where they live, go to school, or where their parents work.
These are some of the results of a Harris Interactive survey conducted online in the United States among 754 youth aged 13 to 18 between June 15 and 20, 2005. Harris Interactive conducted a similar online survey among 624 U.S. youth aged 13 to 18 between April 16 and 23, 2003.
A comparison of the two polls shows a sharp decline in support for the war among teens:
Less than one-third (30%) rate President Bush’s handling of the war as excellent or pretty good, down from 54 percent in April 2003.
More than half (54%) feel that the United States will win the war, down from the 83 percent who felt this way in April 2003.
One-quarter (25%) say the war makes them feel proud of their nation, falling from 48 percent in April 2003 who said this.
Four in ten (41%) say the war is not worth fighting at all, up from 28 percent in April 2003.
The war in Iraq seems to have had a clear impact on recruitment for the U.S. military. In April 2003, 28 percent of teens said they would be likely to volunteer to fight in the war in Iraq if they were old enough, a percentage which has fallen to 11 percent now. The surveys also show that a large majority of teens continue to support the all-volunteer system for the armed services (87% now and in 2003)
“Support for the war in Iraq has waned over time and our initial poll in 2003 showed that most teens expected the war to end quickly (76% thought the war would end in a year or less),” said John Geraci, vice president of the Youth and Education Research Practice at Harris Interactive. “Although this new survey shows very little support for the war among teenagers, it also indicates that teens are somewhat less worried about terrorist attacks. Specifically, the 2003 poll showed that 30 percent of teens were very or quite worried that a terrorist attack might take place near them, compared to 21 percent now.”
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For more information at http://www.harrispollonline.com
