WMD, the war in Iraq, and another poll showing widespread ignorance

Last week I mentioned a poll from the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland on public awareness and opinions on issues relating to Iraq, the attacks of 9/11, weapons of mass destruction, etc. I expressed some concern because too many people were terribly mistaken about the most basic details.

For example, 41% of respondents said they believed the United States had found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after the invasion, which is of course false. 22% said they not only believe that we’ve found WMD but that Iraq actually used chemical or biological weapons during the war.

I had hoped that the survey results were a bit of a fluke. Maybe the pollsters used a bad sample, or perhaps the question was worded in a confusing way.

A new ABC/Washington Post poll, released today, unfortunately reflected very similar results on similar questions.

Respondents were asked, for example, “Based on what you know or have heard, do you believe that Iraq did or did not use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. troops during the war earlier this year?” Remarkably, 24% said that Iraq did use these WMD against the United States. That’s actually a bit higher than the results from the Maryland poll.

One in four think WMD were used in the war? Wouldn’t that have been pretty big news?

Here’s a fun little twist: the same ABC/Post poll asked if people believed that the United States used WMD against Iraqi troops during the war. Fortunately, only 6% said that we did use these weapons. I’m glad it’s only 6%, but that’s still 6 percentage points higher than it should be.

The margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus 3 percentage points, so somewhere between 3% and 9% of the population thinks the U.S. not only has biological and chemical weapons but used them in Iraq.

Is it wrong of me to hope these people don’t vote?