Polls: With Iraq Driving Election, Voters Want New Approach

With Iraq Driving Election, Voters Want New Approach - New York Times:

"A substantial majority of Americans expect Democrats to reduce or end American military involvement in Iraq if they win control of Congress next Tuesday and say Republicans will maintain or increase troop levels to try to win the war if they hold on to power on Capitol Hill, according to the final New York Times/CBS News poll before the midterm election."

The poll showed that 29 percent of Americans approve of the way President Bush is managing the war, matching the lowest mark of his presidency. Nearly 70 percent said Mr. Bush did not have a plan to end the war, and 80 percent said Mr. Bush’s latest effort to rally public support for the conflict amounted to a change in language but not policy.

Among registered voters, 33 percent said they planned to support Republicans, and 52 percent said they would vote for Democrats.

Nearly 75 percent of respondents, including 67 percent of Republicans and 92 percent of Democrats, said they expected that Americans troops would be taken out of Iraq more swiftly under a Democratic-led Congress.

Forty-one percent of respondents said they expected that troop levels would decrease if Democrats won control, while 40 percent said the party would seek to remove all troops. Forty-one percent said they expected troop levels to remain the same if Republicans won, while 29 percent said they thought the United States would send more troops if the Republicans continued to control Congress.