tony blair tunred england around on thei war

[V Nura]

I heard on tv that 55 percent of ukers now support this war..as opposed to 19 percent earlier.

blair seems to have turned the tide himself

 

[meegannie]

It's not that 55% support the war, it's that they don't believe that Blair's stance is based entirely on self-interest:

26 Mar 2003 21:17:57 GMT
Britons' trust in Blair grows -- poll

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) - Britons' trust in Prime Minister Tony Blair has grown since widespread popular protests against war on Iraq before the conflict started, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday

The YouGov poll for Channel 4 News said Britons' faith in Blair has risen over the last month and most now believe he is taking a moral stand against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

It showed trust in Blair had risen to 6.1 on a scale of one to 10 where zero means none at all and 10 complete trust. This compared with 4.4 in a February poll and 4.7 in November 2002.

Some 55 percent of Britons now believe Blair's support of the war to oust Saddam is a principled stand rather than self-interest, compared with 36 percent in a February poll.

The survey, conducted between Tuesday and Wednesday, was the latest to confirm a swing in favour of Blair, who had faced widespread opposition for throwing his weight behind U.S. President George W. Bush's build-up of pressure on Saddam.

The demonstrations have grown smaller. A weekend London rally drew barely a quarter of the roughly million who turned out in mid-February.

The online poll of 1,645 people showed 74 percent of Britons believe there will be an eventual victory by U.S.-led forces in the war in Iraq, compared with 40 percent in the previous poll.

Some 43 percent of Britons said there are less British casualties so far than they anticipated, 39 percent said casualties were about what they expected and 13 percent said there had been more than they had expected.

In terms of Iraqi civilian casualties, 47 percent of Britons said there had been fewer than they expected, 39 percent said casualties were as they expected and three percent said there had been more than they expected.

Some 30 percent of those polled said they believed that the United State's motivation for attacking Iraq was driven by oil interests, compared with 46 percent in February.

A total of 33 percent said the attack on Iraq was because the United States saw Saddam as dangerous to world peace.

 

[diamond]

Blair and Bush
2 leaders in a world of oppostition
Keep
Hope
Alive

DB9

 

[V Nura]

meeganie...the stat I heard was in favor of the war...apprantly their has been a surge of british patriotism lately. ,,this article is intereisting..but it's not the stat I heard.

 

[meegannie]

Okay, here's what I think you're talking about.

Support for war surges

Download today's ICM/Guardian poll in full (pdf)

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Tuesday March 25, 2003
The Guardian

The outbreak of war has triggered a big surge in support for military action against Iraq among British voters, according to the latest Guardian/ICM tracker poll.
The 15-point swing in public opinion recorded by the ICM survey means that there is now a clear majority, 54%, who back military action, after a sharp rise from 38% just a week ago. The results represent a sudden and widespread shift in public mood in Britain.

Opposition to the war has slumped in the past seven days from 44% to only 30% of the public, the lowest level since the Guardian began tracking public opinion on this issue last August.

An ICM poll for the News of the World over the weekend suggests that this surge in support for military action has been accompanied by a similar revival in Tony Blair's personal ratings.

The big swing in support as British troops go into action demonstrates the highly volatile nature of public opinion on Iraq.

But it must be open to question whether such a level of support can be sustained if there are serious military reverses and a consequent daily diet of harrowing television pictures.

The 30% opposed to the war still represents a substantial minority of the public and is particularly found among the young, Liberal Democrat supporters, and those living in the south-east of England.

The only age range in which opposition to the war is above 50% is the 18- to 24 group.

Nevertheless, the outright opposition of 30% of the adult population is still the highest level of opposition recorded by Gallup at the start of any war since 1950, when 31% said they opposed British troops going to fight in Korea. Fewer than one in four opposed the Falklands war, the 1991 Gulf war or Britain's involvement in Kosovo in 1999.

The swing in public opinion behind military action has taken place almost uniformly across all types of voters.

Among men, 61% now believe that military action is justified and only 28% disapprove. Even among women, only a minority now believe that the war is not justified. The number supporting military action has risen by 18 points to 47%, with only 33% now saying they disapprove.

It is a similar picture when the detailed results are broken down by political party. Conservative supporters are the staunchest backers of military action, with 66% approval of the war and only 22% opposed.

Among Labour supporters, backing for military action reaches 58% approval and 29% opposition.

Only among the Liberal Democrats is the pattern slightly different. A week ago nearly two-thirds of Lib Dem voters said they were opposed to the war, but that figure has fallen to 41% and a larger proportion of Liberal Democrat supporters, 45%, now say they back military action.

One factor in the rise in support for war has been people making up their mind as the outbreak of hostilities got closer. The 23% who said they were "don't knows" in January have fallen to 15% now, and it appears that most of them have become pro-war.

But the rise in support for military action is on a much larger scale than can be accounted for by people simply making up their minds as war approached. It may be that a significant proportion of voters who said they were opposed to the war but would support it if there were a second UN resolution have decided to swing behind military action now that British troops have gone into action.

? ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,008 adults aged 18 and over by telephone from March 21-23, 2003. Interviews have been conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.

 

[diamond]

sometimes..real leaders do not consult push-polls to lead their nations..
this is not a PTA Rally ppl,
this is real life in the real world.

thank u-

diamond.

 

[Basstrap]

diamond, I think you would jump into burning fire if Bush told you to, cos it therefore MUST be a good idea

I also think these leaders, and I use the term lightly, are not paying ENOUGH attention to the people. I think Bush would have went to war if 100% of americans were opposed

 

[diamond]

basstrap-
Do u realize that the majority of Britain's population was agaisnst
Churchill in the Battle of Briton?

History proved your type of thinking wrong.

thank u

dB9

 

[V Nura]

ahh thanks meeganie..that was it!

 

[Gickies Gageeze]

basstrap-
Do u realize that the majority of Britain's population was agaisnst
Churchill in the Battle of Briton?

History proved your type of thinking wrong.

thank u

dB9

he had NO choice at the time. they were fighting for their lives against a very sizable and determined force.

this war is against some third world country who's forces are comprised of anciet soviet machinery. and lets face it, not too many people are genuinely afraid of iraq inflicting harm on us.

your comparison does not work, diamond.

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

It's normal for support for a war to increase massively once it's begun. People start to feel that they have to "support our troops" and to continue to oppose the war would be unpatriotic. Public opinion hasn't become in favour of this war because of something Blair did or said.

 

[V Nura]

It's normal for support for a war to increase massively once it's begun. People start to feel that they have to "support our troops" and to continue to oppose the war would be unpatriotic. Public opinion hasn't become in favour of this war because of something Blair did or said.

can you say that bush has doen the same thing in the US???

 

[Basstrap]

basstrap-
Do u realize that the majority of Britain's population was agaisnst
Churchill in the Battle of Briton?

History proved your type of thinking wrong.

thank u

dB9

how very interesting. I would like you to give me some reliable sources please as I am confused that the people of a country getting bombed so fiercly as Britain did were opposed to Churchill fighting back

 

[Basstrap]

also, your post made no sense relative to mine.

You're talking about the opinion of people in an invaded country
I was talking about people in a country who is doing the invading

 

[what a bomb!]

I would just like to point out that the Battle Of Britain was literally just that! And it was in September 1940, this is when we were fighting alone, no allies to help us, albeit a handful of foreign air crews fighting under the RAF badge. America didn't come into the war till '42, so it was quite literally a battle of survival of a nation. Anyone interested to know more there is a website www.battleofbritain.net for more info.

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."-- Winston Churchill

 

[nbcrusader]

It's normal for support for a war to increase massively once it's begun. People start to feel that they have to "support our troops" and to continue to oppose the war would be unpatriotic. Public opinion hasn't become in favour of this war because of something Blair did or said.

Perhaps people are thinking for themselves and see growing evidence of the evil in Saddam's regime. And Blair is exhibiting leadership. Sometimes people don't know it until they see it.

 

[diamond]

Thanks Mr What a Bomb.

Basstrap-Gickies understood the concept I was trying to convey..

And read What a Bombs link..both of you..

thanks-

Diamond

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

Perhaps people are thinking for themselves and see growing evidence of the evil in Saddam's regime. And Blair is exhibiting leadership. Sometimes people don't know it until they see it.

Both of those statements might be true, but it is also true that once a war begins support for it usually increases.

 

[diamond]

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

Look, Tony Blair's wearing his true political colours around his neck!