Twenty percent (20%) of U.S. voters say all American troops should be brought home from Afghanistan immediately, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Another 17% oppose an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces but believe a firm timetable should be established to bring all troops home within a year. Fifty-two percent (52%) see no need for a withdrawal or a timetable right now. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.

Democrats are much more strongly in favor of pulling out the troops which poses perhaps a greater concern to President Obama with some in his party already discussing a possible challenge to him for the party’s presidential nomination in 2012.

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Thirty-one percent (31%) of Democrats favor a complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan right away, compared to 13% of Republicans and 14% of voters not affiliated with either party. Thirty percent (30%) of the president’s party think a firm timetable should be established for withdrawal within a year, a view shared by just six percent (6%) of GOP voters and 14% of unaffiliateds.

Seventy-three percent (73%) of Republicans and 60% of unaffiliated voters see no need for a withdrawal or a timetable, but just 27% of Democrats agree.

Only 33% of voters believe it is even somewhat likely that U.S. combat troops will be removed from Afghanistan by the end of the president’s first term. U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 in pursuit of Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda terrorists who were given a safe haven in the country.

Eighty-four percent (84%) of voters say Afghanistan is at least somewhat important to the national security of the United States. Thirty-eight percent (38%) rate it as very important. Only 12% say it’s not very or not at all important.

Republicans are more likely to view Afghanistan as very important to U.S. national security, but in general there is little partisan disagreement on the question.

Seventy-seven percent (77%) of voters say it is at least somewhat likely that the president will send more troops to Afghanistan in the next year or so, with 46% who say it is very likely. These numbers are down slightly from previous surveys this summer. Just 14% say it is not very or not at all likely.

U.S. commanders in Afghanistan are expected to ask the president to commit more forces to the country to counter the revitalized radical Islamic Taliban there. The Obama administration is already having high-level internal debates about troop levels and the future mission in the country.

Eighty-seven percent (87%) say they have followed recent news stories about the situation in Afghanistan, with 40% following very closely. Only two percent (2%) are not following news about Afghanistan at all.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of U.S. voters now expect the war in Afghanistan to get worse during the next six months, a 14-point jump from a survey a month earlier. Confidence is also down in America's conduct of the War on Terror.

Forty-nine percent (49%) of Americans believe it is at least somewhat likely that there will be a significant terrorist attack in the United States in the next year, but that figure is down from 70% in the summer of 2007 and 58% in December 2008.

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