As the United States moves ever closer to launching an attack on Syria, President Obama is finding it hard to convince the American people that the attack is something that should be done. Previous polls have shown that a majority of Americans don't support any attack. Now two new polls show the American people are still not convinced the attack is a good idea.The NBC News Poll was done on August 28th and 29th of 700 nationwide adults, with a margin of error of 3.7 points. The Rasmussen Poll was done on August 29th and 30th of 1,000 nationwide likely voters, and has a margin of error of 3 points.
As you can see, neither poll shows a majority of Americans currently supporting an attack on Syria. In fact, more Americans oppose an attack than support it, and significant portions of the population just don't know what to think about another military intervention during this budget crunch.
The NBC News Poll had a couple of other interesting aspects. First, only 27% of Americans think an attack will improve the situation of Syrian civilians, while 41% don't think it will help those civilians at all. Second, a huge majority of Americans (79%, or about 4 out of 5 people) don't want the president to attack Syria without first getting the approval of Congress.
I have to agree with that 79%. Too many American presidents have taken it on themselves to commit this country to military action without the approval of Congress, and that needs to stop. If the military action is needed and is in the best interests of this country, then Congress will approve it -- and if Congress doesn't approve it, then it shouldn't be done.
I expect President Obama will ignore public opinion and attack Syria. But if he does, it will be without the approval of most Americans.
UPDATE -- It looks like Obama will seek congressional approval before attacking Syria. Hopefully, there will be enough members of Congress with enough sense to stop this attack. Unfortunately, making sense is not something this Congress is known for.
SECOND UPDATE -- It now looks like the whole premise of the impending attack (that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against the rebels) may be a mistake. The website Examiner.com is reporting that the rebels have admitted that they gassed themselves accidentally. It seems that the Saudis gave a rebel group some chemical weapons, and that group had a different rebel group transport those weapons, without telling them what they were transporting. The second group mishandled those weapons, setting off an explosion that scattered poison gas.
If this is true, then the Syrian government, however vicious they may be, are innocent of the charge of using chemical weapons -- and the excuse the U.S. is using to propose a strike against Syria is false. The United States need to stop its march toward another war, at least long enough to be absolutely certain as to what has happened in Syria.
