Opinion: Obama sees Afghan war as central; another poll says U.S. disagrees

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One more poll does not a trend confirm.

And right now, the American public’s attention is rooted on domestic policy, economic stimulus and who’s going under the new administration’s bus next.

But Democratic President Barack Obama’s strategists have gotta be increasingly concerned with the significant lack of public support for increasing U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan, which the ex-senator has long argued is the true front line of the war on terrorism.

He’s talked about boosting America’s military presence there by about 30,000 troops and has traveled to the Pentagon to discuss it with military leaders. But some polls have indicated that even the popular president is going to have a real sales job on his hand to convince Americans of that.

Alas for him, the BBC/Harris Poll has just finished discussing it with 2,848 adult Americans in mid-January. And only one-third of them (and only 27% of Democrats) think that’s a good idea.

Only 21% think the current troop level is about right. And even more (27%) think the manpower commitment should be reduced.

--Andrew Malcolm

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