WASHINGTON — Most U.S. voters now say it was not worth going to war in Iraq, but an overwhelming majority reject the idea of setting a deadline to withdraw all U.S. forces from the country, according to a Times poll.
Though the survey found voters increasingly worried that America was becoming ensnarled in Iraq and pessimistic that a democratic government would take root, less than one in five said America should withdraw all its forces within weeks. And less than one in four endorsed the idea advanced by some Democratic-leaning foreign policy experts and liberal groups to establish a specific date for withdrawal.
"I never thought we should go to war in Iraq," said Anne Wardwell, a retired museum curator in Cleveland who responded to the poll. "But I think we have to see it through, because if we don't it is going to be a disaster in the region."
The survey also showed widespread concern that the war had damaged America's image in the world, a strong desire to see NATO take the lead in managing the conflict, and deep division over whether President Bush could rally more international support for the rebuilding effort.
The Times Poll, supervised by polling director Susan Pinkus, surveyed 1,230 registered voters from Saturday through Tuesday. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Anxiety over the war's direction and reluctance to abandon the cause in Iraq radiated through the responses.
Most voters retained faith that the U.S. could control the military situation in the country. About half of those polled -- 52% -- said they thought the U.S. was winning the war; 24% said the insurgents were winning.
But voters were uncertain about the prospects of achieving broader goals in Iraq. Just 35% said the U.S. was "making good progress in Iraq," while 61% said they thought the U.S. was "getting bogged down." Three-fifths of independents and more than four-fifths of Democrats shared the sense that the effort was stalling.
But a majority of Republicans, like Rosemary Wolfram of Cincinnati, see progress occurring. "I think we see some light at the end of the tunnel on the war," said Wolfram, a legal assistant.
Noting that an Iraqi interim government is preparing to assume sovereignty June 30, she added, "That is going in the right direction."
In perhaps the most emphatic measure of anxiety about Iraq, 53% said they did not think the situation there merited the war; 43% said it did. When Times polls asked that question in November and March, the numbers were essentially reversed.
