Washington Post-ABC News Poll: Bush and Iraq
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 | | | | Note: This is a corrected version of the full results for the October 9-13, 2003 Washington Post-ABC News poll. Some results in the previous version were slightly off because a portion of the sample was improperly weighted. Weighting is a statistical procedure that ensures that the proportions of certain demographic groups-such as blacks and whites-in the sample match the actual proportion of those groups in the population, as reported by the U.S. Census. Results based on the full sample for questions 1 - 50 may vary from the original, incorrect version by up to two percentage points, with a somewhat larger variation for results in the health care section that are based on subgroups. Questions 51 - 68 were not affected. The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll is based on telephone interviews with 1,000 randomly selected adults nationwide, and was conducted Oct. 9-13, 2003. Questions about the Catholic church are based on interviews with 1,281 respondents, including an oversample of 281 Catholics. The 'Catholics only' results are thus based on a total of 504 interviews. Results representing the general public in this section were adjusted to reflect the country's actual religious distribution. The margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus 3 percentage points, and plus or minus 4 percentage points for results based on Catholics. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error in this or any other public opinion poll. Interviewing was conducted by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa. *= less than 0.5 percent 1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president? Do you approve/disapprove strongly or somewhat?
---------Approve--------- --------Disapprove------- No
NET Strongly Somewhat NET Strongly Somewhat opin.
10/13/03 53 33 20 43 29 13 4
9/30/03 54 34 20 44 29 15 2
9/13/03 58 35 23 40 27 14 2
9/7/03 56 34 22 41 28 13 4
8/11/03 59 37 22 37 23 14 4
7/10/03 59 35 24 38 25 13 3
6/22/03 68 45 23 29 18 11 4
4/30/03 71 50 22 26 9 17 3
4/16/03 74 52 22 23 14 9 3
4/9/03 77 58 19 20 14 6 4
4/3/03 71 54 16 25 19 7 4
3/23/03 68 NA NA 27 NA NA 4
3/20/03 67 NA NA 28 NA NA 5
3/2/03 62 38 23 35 22 13 4
2/23/03 60 NA NA 34 NA NA 6
2/9/03 64 42 21 34 20 14 3
2/1/03 62 41 21 34 22 13 4
1/28/03 62 43 19 36 23 13 2
1/27/03 59 39 21 37 22 15 4
1/20/03 59 36 23 38 22 16 2
12/15/02 66 37 28 32 20 12 2
11/4/02 LV 67 45 23 31 20 12 1
11/3/02 LV 67 45 22 32 20 12 1
11/2/02 LV 67 47 20 32 23 9 1
10/27/02 All 67 39 28 29 16 13 4
10/27/02 LV 68 47 21 30 16 14 3
9/26/02 67 42 25 30 18 12 3
9/8/02 71 42 28 27 15 12 3
7/28/02 69 39 31 28 14 14 3
7/15/02 72 42 31 25 13 12 2
6/17/02 74 42 32 22 13 9 4
6/9/02 77 41 36 20 11 9 3
5/19/02 76 48 28 22 13 8 3
4/21/02 78 47 31 20 10 9 2
3/28/02 79 49 30 18 10 8 3
3/10/02 82 52 30 16 7 9 2
1/27/02 83 56 27 14 7 7 3
12/19/01 86 64 22 12 6 6 2
11/27/01 89 69 21 9 5 4 1
11/6/01 89 65 24 9 4 5 2
10/9/01 92 76 16 6 3 3 1
9/27/01 90 70 20 6 3 3 4
9/13/01 86 63 23 12 6 5 2
9/9/01 55 26 29 41 22 20 3
8/12/01 61 28 33 31 17 14 8
7/30/01 59 28 30 38 22 17 3
6/3/01 55 27 28 40 22 18 6
4/22/01 63 33 30 32 16 16 5
3/25/01 58 NA NA 33 NA NA 8
2/25/01 55 NA NA 23 NA NA 22
2. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Bush is handling (ITEM)?
10/13/03 - Summary Table
Approve Disapprove No op.
a. The economy 45 52 2
b. The US campaign against terrorism 66 30 4
c. Prescription drug benefits
for the elderly 34 43 22
d. The situation in Iraq 51 47 2
e. The cost, availability and coverage
of health insurance 30 60 10
*Half sample asked items a-b, other half asked c. Trend where available: a. The economy
Approve Disapprove No opinion
10/13/03 45 52 2
9/13/03 42 56 3
9/7/03 44 51 5
8/11/03 45 51 5
7/10/03 47 49 4
4/30/03 52 45 3
2/9/03 47 49 4
2/1/03 44 52 4
1/28/03 46 49 4
1/27/03 47 47 5
1/20/03 43 53 4
1/5/03 50 43 7
12/15/02 50 46 4
11/4/02 LV 53 45 2
11/3/02 LV 52 46 2
11/2/02 LV 55 43 2
10/27/02 51 43 6
10/27/02 LV 53 44 3
9/26/02 51 47 3
9/8/02 57 40 4
7/28/02 57 39 4
7/15/02 58 38 3
4/21/02 64 33 3
1/27/02 62 34 4
12/19/01 67 27 6
11/6/01 72 23 5
9/9/01 48 48 4
7/30/01 52 45 3
6/3/01 53 41 6
4/22/01 55 38 7
3/25/01 50 42 8
b. The US campaign against terrorism
---------Approve--------- --------Disapprove------- No
NET Strongly Somewhat NET Strongly Somewhat op.
10/13/03 66 NA NA 30 NA NA 4
9/13/03 70 NA NA 27 NA NA 3
9/7/03 67 NA NA 28 NA NA 5
4/30/03 79 NA NA 19 NA NA 2
2/9/03 74 NA NA 23 NA NA 4
2/1/03 75 NA NA 21 NA NA 3
1/27/03 72 NA NA 26 NA NA 2
1/20/03 71 NA NA 25 NA NA 4
12/15/02 79 NA NA 20 NA NA 1
11/4/02 LV 76 NA NA 22 NA NA 1
11/3/02 LV 77 NA NA 22 NA NA 3
11/2/02 LV 78 NA NA 21 NA NA 2
10/27/02 All 74 NA NA 23 NA NA 4
10/27/02 LV 78 NA NA 20 NA NA 2
9/26/02 70 NA NA 28 NA NA 2
9/8/02 74 NA NA 24 NA NA 2
7/28/02 81 NA NA 17 NA NA 2
7/15/02 83 NA NA 15 NA NA 2
5/19/02 79 51 27 19 10 9 3
4/21/02 81 56 25 18 10 7 2
3/10/02 88 64 24 10 5 5 2
1/27/02 88 NA NA 10 NA NA 2
12/19/01 89 67 22 9 5 4 2
10/15/01 92 75 17 5 3 3 3
c. The situation in Iraq
Approve Disapprove No opinion
10/13/03 51 47 2
9/29/03 50 47 3
9/13/03 52 46 2
9/7/03 49 47 4
8/24/03 56 37 7
8/11/03 56 41 3
7/10/03 58 41 2
6/22/03 67 30 2
4/30/03 75 22 2
Compare to: The situation with Iraq and Saddam Hussein
3/27/03 69 26 5
3/23/03 71 26 3
3/20/03 65 29 5
3/17/03 64 29 7
3/9/03 55 38 8
2/23/03 55 39 6
2/9/03 61 37 2
2/5/03 61 32 7
2/1/03 61 35 3
1/28/03 58 38 4
1/27/03 57 40 3
1/20/03 50 46 4
12/15/02 58 37 5
11/4/02 LV 56 40 4
11/3/02 LV 57 40 4
11/2/02 LV 56 41 3
10/27/02 57 38 5
9/26/02 58 39 3
9/14/02 65 31 4
8/29/02 52 36 12
3. If the 2004 presidential election were being held today, would you vote for (George W. Bush, the Republican) or for (the Democratic nominee for president)? Net Leaned Vote:
Democratic Other Neither Would No
Bush nominee (vol.) (vol.) not vote op.
10/13/03 All 45 48 1 2 1 3
RV 45 49 1 2 1 3
9/13/03 49 44 1 2 2 2
8/11/03 48 40 2 1 1 7
4/30/03 53 40 * 2 1 3
4. All in all, considering the costs to the United States versus the benefits to the United States, do you think the war with Iraq was worth fighting, or not?
Worth Not worth No
fighting fighting opinion
10/13/03 54 44 2
9/13/03 61 37 2
9/7/03 54 42 4
8/24/03 57 37 5
8/11/03 61 35 4
7/10/03 57 40 3
6/22/03 64 33 3
4/30/03 70 27 4
Gulf War:
2/2/92* 66 32 2
7/28/91 67 30 3
6/2/91 70 26 3
3/4/91 86 13 1
*2/2/92 and previous: "the Persian Gulf war"; 3/4/91: "this war"
5. Again thinking about the goals versus the costs of the war, so far in your opinion has there been an acceptable or unacceptable number of U.S. military casualties in Iraq?
Acceptable Unacceptable No opinion
10/13/03 37 60 3
9/13/03 43 55 2
9/7/03 38 57 5
8/11/03 42 53 5
7/10/03 44 52 3
6/22/03 51 44 5
4/9/03 66 28 6
4/3/03 62 32 5
3/27/03 58 34 9
6. Do you think the Bush Administration does--or does not--have a clear plan for handling the situation in Iraq?
Does Does not No opinion
10/13/03 42 53 5
9/13/03 42 55 2
8/26/03* 44 54 2
*Gallup.
7. On another subject, the U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether someone in the White House broke the law by identifying a former diplomat's wife as an undercover CIA agent. The former diplomat claims this was done to punish him for criticizing U.S. policy on Iraq. Do you think this is a very serious matter, somewhat serious, not too serious or not serious at all?
-------Serious-------- --------Not serious------- No
NET Very Smwt. NET Not too At all op.
10/13/03 82 46 36 14 9 4 4
9/30/03 81 48 34 16 7 9 3
8. Do you think this investigation should be handled by (the U.S. Justice Department, which is part of the Bush administration), or should it be handled by (an outside investigator known as a special counsel, that is not part of the Bush administration)?
Justice Special No
Department counsel opinion
10/13/03 27 69 4
9/30/03 29 69 3
9. Do you think the White House is or is not fully cooperating with this investigation?
Yes, No, not No
cooperating cooperating opinion
10/13/03 39 41 20
9/30/03 47 37 16
998. (and 999) (ASKED OF LEANED DEMOCRATS) If the 2004 Democratic presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, and the candidates were: (Joseph Lieberman, Richard Gephardt, John Kerry, John Edwards, Al Sharpton, Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich, Carol Moseley Braun, or Wesley Clark), for whom would you vote? Net Leaned Vote:
10/13/03
General Population Registered Voters
Lieberman 10 10
Gephardt 13 14
Kerry 11 11
Edwards 3 2
Dean 17 17
Clark 12 14
Sharpton 4 3
Braun 5 4
Kucinich 2 2
Other * *
None 8 9
Wouldn't Vote 1 1
No Opinion 15 13
Net Leaned Vote:
9/13/03
General Population Registered Voters
Lieberman 22 21
Gephardt 14 14
Kerry 14 14
Edwards 3 3
Dean 14 15
Clark 6 6
Sharpton 5 5
Braun 4 4
Kucinich 2 2
Other 5* 3*
None 3 3
Wouldn't Vote 2 2
No op. 7 8
*Other: Graham/Other
Trend, General population:
7/10/03 6/1/03 4/30/03 1/20/03 7/15/02**
Lieberman 13 14 29 27 10
Gephardt 10 10 19 14 5
Kerry 12 7 14 10 6
Edwards 6 6 4 11 3
Graham 3 4 3 NA NA
Dean 8 3 3 3 1
Sharpton 6 2 3 7 NA
Moseley Braun 4 1 6 NA NA
Kucinich 2 1 2 NA NA
Clark NA NA NA NA NA
H.R. Clinton NA 37 NA NA NA
Other 2 * 1 1 3
None 13 3 1 4 *
Wouldn't vote 7 2 0 0 0
No opinion 16 11 14 24 18
**Gore 46, Daschle 8
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