Poll shows slip in support for war with Iraq
( 2003-01-23 10:53 ) (7 )

A majority of Americans back military action to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein but support for attacking Iraq has slipped sharply in the last month, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.

The poll also showed that US President George W. Bush's approval rating for handling the Iraq situation was down eight points in the last month, to 50 percent.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Wednesday that Bush remained confident of public support, however, and that he would present his case to Americans "at greater length" if he decides to go to war.

The poll of 1,133 adults showed that 57 percent of Americans support US military action to remove Saddam from power, compared to 62 percent a month ago and as high as 78 percent in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

On January 27, the chief UN weapons inspector reports to the Security Council on progress to date

Americans also were split almost evenly, 50 percent to 47 percent, on whether the United States should work more for a diplomatic solution or more on preparing for use of force to disarm Saddam.

But at the same time, 61 percent of those polled gave diplomacy little or no chance of succeeding.

Among other findings, 71 percent of Americans said if UN inspectors cannot find hard evidence of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, the United States should present its own evidence before attacking. Fifty-four percent said the United States should set a deadline for the UN inspectors to complete their mission in Iraq.

The telephone poll was conducted Jan. 16-20 and has a three percentage point margin of error.

"The basic fundamentals are unchanged and that is that a strong majority of the American people are willing to support military action if it comes down to that, and if the president makes that case to the American people I think you will see even more of the country support him," Fleischer said on Air Force One en route to a Bush event in St. Louis.

"The president has said repeatedly that it's important for Saddam Hussein to disarm and in the event that he makes a decision that we must go to war to make Saddam Hussein disarm he will talk to the American people at greater length," he said.