Thought Theater

Poll: Republicans Winning Message Game? genre: Just Jihad & Polispeak & Six Degrees of Speculation

Despite clear evidence to the contrary, a majority of Americans still believe that Sadaam Hussein had strong links to al Qaeda and that U.S. forces found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The results point to the success of the Republican Party to craft and deliver messages that are clearly designed to manipulate the beliefs held by the public. It clearly points out that the repetitive delivery of short and consistent messages that either infer facts or omit facts have been a mainstay in the Karl Rove strategy. Read the full article on the latest polling here.

(AXcess News) New York - Despite being widely reported in the mainstream news media that the US and other countries have not found any weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq, as well as Democrat talking points that Bush lied about WMD, more Americans (50%) think that Iraq had such weapons when the US-led coalition invaded Iraq, according to the latest Harris Poll.

-- Seventy-two percent (72%) believe that the Iraqis are better off now than they were under Saddam Hussein (slightly down from February 2005 when 76 percent said this was true).

-- Just over half (55%) think history will give the US credit for bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq (down substantially from 64% in February 2005).

-- Sixty-four percent (64%) say it is true that Saddam Hussein had strong links to Al Qaeda (the same as 64% in February 2005).

The public's views on Iraq have not changed substantially in the past year.

Not all of the polling reflects success for the Republican messages. The war effort still remains unpopular and the public is skeptical that the United States is safer as a result of the Iraq invasion.

-- A majority (56%) thinks that spending huge sums of money to invade and occupy Iraq has meant that a lot less money has been available to protect the United States against another terrorist attack. This has decreased from April 2005 when 62 percent agreed with this sentiment.

-- Still, six in 10 (61%) adults agree (59% in April 2005) that invading and occupying Iraq has motivated more Islamic terrorists to attack the United States.

-- By 58 to 41 percent, a clear majority does not think that invading Iraq has helped to reduce the threat of another terrorist attack against the United States. This is similar to the 61 to 39 percent majority that felt this way in April 2005

It remains to be seen how this sentiment will translate at the voting booth this November. The mixed results make it difficult to gauge whether voters will hold their elected officials responsible for their misgivings with regard to the President's handling of the Iraq war. The fact that the administration continues to equate the war in Iraq with 9/11 and the war on terror is a troubling indication. The 2004 presidential election seems to indicate that the ability of the administration to maintain that connection proved to be a winning strategy. Whether that will translate into voters supporting Republican candidates may be a key factor in November.