AP picked up the story<\/a>, but dropped “Very” from what rank Pew was reporting, making it seem, well …<\/p>\nWASHINGTON — Images of battered American POWs, a downed Apache helicopter and U.S. fatalities in Iraq have had a dramatic impact on the public’s perception of the war. Just 38 percent said the conflict was going well Monday<\/b>, down from 71 percent on Friday, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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![adjoining graph <\/a>that shows public perception of how the war is going plummiting to low levels.<\/p>\nBut … the graph starts at what looks like the 30% mark. So when people answering a certain way drop to 38%, it looks like it’s the bottom of the barrel, when it remains over a third.<\/p>\nAnd … the question asked is “How well is the U.S. military effort in Iraq going?” The graph is how many people think it is going Very Well<\/i>. That’s the highest ranking (vs. Fairly Well, Not Too Well, Not At All Well,<\/i> or Don’t Know\/Refused<\/i>). And that data has, in fact, dropped over the last days:<\/p>\nThe percentage of the public thinking the war was going very well was as high as 71% on Friday and Saturday, only to fall to 52% on Sunday and 38% Monday as the public learned of American casualties and POW’s. Overall, the interviews by Sunday and Monday found about as many people thinking the war effort was going just fairly well (41%) as opposed to very well (45%).<\/p>\nBut look at it in a more aggregate fashion. How many people think the war is going well? 86%. That’s remarkable for “faltering” public confidence. <\/p>\nClyde at the Command Post got the breakdown of the data <\/a>from Pew.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\nAnswer<\/td>\nThursday<\/td>\nFriday<\/td>\nSaturday<\/td>\nSunday<\/td>\nMonday<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nVery well<\/td>\n49.9<\/td>\n70.9<\/td>\n70.7<\/td>\n51.6<\/td>\n38.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nFairly well<\/td>\n30.2<\/td>\n22.8<\/td>\n22.2<\/td>\n34.3<\/td>\n47.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nsubtotals<\/td>\n80.1<\/td>\n93.7<\/td>\n92.9<\/td>\n85.9<\/td>\n85.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/center><\/p>\nSo while the number of folks thinking the military effort is going well is lower than over the weekend, it’s higher than when war broke out.<\/p>\nI don’t put a lot of stock in polls of this sort, both because it’s asking for a relatively uninformed opinion, and because it is going to be subject to both spin and volatility. 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