A poll released by the Wall Street Journal this morning found that 66 percent of Americans believe there is a civil war in Iraq. Here is the question and the results:
In other words, 40 percent of Americans believe that violence in Iraq should be described as “Iraqis fighting against each other in a civil war.” Another 26 percent think there is a civil war in addition to an anti-U.S. insurgency. (ThinkProgress noted yesterday there are actually at least four different violent conflicts ongoing in Iraq.) Therefore, fully 2/3 of Americans believe there is a civil war in Iraq.
Conservative pollster Bill McInturff noted “If Americans continue to see U.S. troops caught in the middle of a civil war…that will ratchet up the pressure to terminate our deployment in Iraq.’”