Thursday, April 03, 2003

MORE POLL NEWS

In today's Daily Mirror:

"Support for the war is slipping, despite the successes of British troops in the past few days."

"More people still think it was right rather than wrong to launch action against Iraq."

"But for the first time since the war started the number backing the invasion has fallen below 50 per cent, according to an exclusive poll for the Daily Mirror and GMTV."

"Yet a big majority believe that now it has begun our troops must stay in Iraq until the job is over."

Can I make one thing clear: I do not advocate government by referenda. We are not Swiss. Equally, politicans should not get hung up on poll numbers. What is of value for the public debate are polling trends. These show a peak in support for action at the time it was launched. You would expect that to decline as battle raged and casualties on both sides mount.

Tony Blair, who seems to have signed up to the concept of pre-emption independently of Shrub, seems to have calculated that his popularity can survive a short war. We'll see.

:: Posted by pete @ 12:53