Poll Shows More Public Backing on Iraq

I noted the improvement in public support for the Iraq war in an earlier post, "Public Opinion Rebounds on Iraq," This uptick in public sentiment is increasingly sustained, according to a new Gallup survey:

Public views of the U.S. troop surge in Iraq have improved over the past month, and Americans' outlook about winning the war is brighter than it was in September....

Four in 10 Americans now say the U.S. troop surge in Iraq that began earlier this year is making the situation there better. This is up from 34% four weeks ago and from 22% when Gallup first measured it in July.

Since August, more Americans have tended to say the surge is making the situation in Iraq better rather than worse, but today's ratio -- 40% vs. 20% -- is the most positive yet recorded. Thirty-nine percent of Americans currently say the surge is not making any difference; this is down from 43% in September and 51% in July.

Read the whole thing. The change in opinion is found mostly among Republican-leaning independents. Democrats harbor blackened views of the Bush administration, and they viewed General David Petraeus' September progress report with skepticism.

These findings are significant in showing how defeatist mentality is not isolated to the Democratic Party's radical, netroots base.

In other Iraq news, there's a new Kurdish-Sunni agreement on oil profits that is marking the beginning of a broader cooperative effort between the two ethnic factions - this is part of the "political reconciliation benchmark" Democrats keep yammering about. Jules Crittenden has the story.