It’s frustrating, but it appears that confusion over Iraq and its weapons-of-mass-destruction-related-program activities is still common among the electorate. A new Fox News poll found some interesting, albeit disappointing, responses to questions about Iraq and the rationale that prompted the 2003 invasion.
[S]ome Americans think there are still weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A 42 percent plurality thinks Iraq had weapons before the war and moved or destroyed them, while 28 percent think there were no WMD at all. Almost one in five (19 percent) think there are still WMD in Iraq.
The current results are almost unchanged from opinions about a year and a half ago. At that time, 44 percent said the weapons were moved or destroyed, 28 percent said Iraq did not have any such weapons and 22 percent thought the weapons were still there (April 2004).
Americans are not just confused about WMDs, we’re apparently just as confused as we were 20 months ago. Only about a fourth of the nation acknowledges the fact that there were no WMDs, which is the exact same percentage as April 2004. It’s not an encouraging sign pointing to progress.
In the electorate’s defense, the poll, conducted by Opinion Dynamics Corp., wasn’t worded very well. Specifically, respondents were asked if they believed “there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the war, but they were moved or destroyed.” The question seems to imply that the WMDs were moved or destroyed immediately before the invasion began, though many respondents could have been understandably confused and thought the question referred to WMDs Saddam Hussein had in years prior. It seems likely that at least some of the 42% simply didn’t know how to answer an ambiguous question.
But poor question wording offers no excuse for the 19% who continue to cling to the notion that those non-existent stockpiles are still there. Are there really that many Fox News viewers out there?