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POLITICS

52% Want Troops Home from Afghanistan Within a Year

A majority of voters, for the first time, support an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan or the creation of a timetable to bring them all home within a year.

A new Ramussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 31% of Likely U.S. Voters now say all troops should be brought home from Afghanistan immediately, while another 21% say a firm timetable should be established to bring all troops home within a year’s time. The combined total of 52% who want the troops home within a year is a nine-point jump from 43% last September. Just 37% felt that way in September 2009.

Only 34% of voters now think there should be no timetable for withdrawal. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Republicans have traditionally been more supportive than Democrats of continuing the mission in Afghanistan, but now 37% of GOP voters favor bringing home the troops within a year, compared to 24% six months ago. Seventy-three percent (73%) of voters in President Obama’s party favor that timetable, a view shared by 45% of voters not affiliated with either of the major political parties.

Twenty-seven percent (27%) of all voters think the U.S. mission in Afghanistan will eventually be judged a success. Thirty-one percent (31%) predict that it will be regarded as a failure, but that’s down 11 points from 42% in early December.  A substantial 41% now are not sure.

But 50% still believe, looking back, that the United States should have gotten involved in Afghanistan. Thirty-four percent (34%) now say America should not have become involved in what has become the nation’s longest-running war. Sixteen percent (16%) are undecided. These results are the mirror image of public perceptions about the war  in Iraq.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).  Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters nationwide was conducted on March 4-5, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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