Amerikan public opinion turns to war following 
attacks

by MC12

Gallup, the big polling company, did a series of 
polls in the few days after the attacks on the 
World Trade Center and Pentagon. Even thought the 
results are inflamed by the fact that the polls 
were done just a few days afterward, the news is 
still bad.

In terms of racism against Arabs, although most 
Amerikans might be opposed to violent attacks of 
the kind that led to several deaths in the week 
after the plane crashes, there is a high level of 
public support for repression against Arabs. Of 
those surveyed, 58% said they would support, 
"Requiring Arabs, including those who are U.S. 
citizens, to undergo special, more intensive 
security checks before boarding airplanes in the 
U.S." and 49% said they would support, "Requiring 
Arabs, including those who are U.S. citizens, to 
carry a special ID."

The vast majority of Amerikans said they would 
"support military action" even if it "would 
continue for a period of several months" (86%), 
lead to increased taxes (84%), involve U.$. ground 
troops (80%), cause oil and gas shortages (79%), 
reduce spending on "programs such as education and 
Social Security" (78%), lead to the reinstitution 
of the draft (77%), and cause the deaths of 1,000 
Amerikan troops (65%). And, as evidence that the 
war attitude is about revenge rather than a 
rational response to stop terrorism, 78% said they 
would support military action even if "Further 
terrorist attacks would occur in the U.S."

Gallup has been recording public "approval 
ratings" for Amerikan presidents for 60 years. 
They have now released a record of the greatest 
upward spikes in public approval for presidents. 
Rather than showing partisan support for 
Republicans or Democrats, most of these spikes 
seem to reflect generally increased patriotism or 
jingoistic nationalism in response to wars or 
similar events. So, Roosevelt got a 12% boost 
after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Kennedy 
got 13% from the Cuban missile crisis, and Bush 
senior got about 30% from the war against Iraq.

But the spike for George W. Bush is the largest 
ever recorded. His approval rating shot up to 86% 
from just 51% in the days after the plane attacks. 
His 86% is just three points below the record, set 
by his father in the war against Iraq, and one 
point less than Truman got after Germany 
surrendered in World War II.

MIM has long understood that the majority of 
Amerikans are not on the side of the oppressed in 
World War III. However, shocks such as the plane 
attacks can still make matters worse, and in the 
short run at least, that is what appears to have 
happened. On the other hand, MIM and its allies 
can do a lot with a few hundred or thousand 
activists who are inspired to get involved in 
response to such a crisis. So even if the great 
majority of Amerikans get even more warlike in 
these times, our task is to work with and capture 
the energy of those who are ready to step up and 
represent the world's majority, even if that means 
taking a minority position within U.$. borders.

Notes: Gallup results are posted at 
http://www.gallup.com/Poll/Reports/aoa/index.asp.