The Guardian's poll on Bush's UK visit.

[Cascadian]

Did I miss something here?

I was away for a few weeks and I come back and I am hearing that support for Bush's visit to Britain has won approval of those polled. Also support for the Iraq occupation has increased in the UK? WTF???

This from the Guardian??? I am confused.

John

[arcane1]

1. don;t have the link, but what you are hearing is misleading

there is a poll where the majority in the UK do not see the US as generally an evil place. Nothing whatsoever to do with Bush.

A DUer rightly compared it- it's like saying you are a Brittney Spears fan because you say you like music in general

[Maple]

2. The poll asked

if in general the US was a force for good or evil in the world.

Not if the Brits supported British/American involvement in Iraq.

[central scrutinizer]

3. compare it with this poll

http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=2102

59 per cent of Londoners now think the military attack on Iraq was not justified compared to half that number, 29 per cent, who think the war was justified, according to a new Mori opinion poll.

The poll also found that the 48 per cent of people in the capital think that London has become less safe because of the War on Iraq, compared to just 3 per cent who think the war has made London more safe.

also be sure to click on the link at the bottom: mayor's message to protestors.

[Cascadian]

4. I applaud the Mayor of London

I wished more of our politicans could be as defiant as Mayor Livingston. Go Red Ken!

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. poll results here

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Politics/documents/2003/11/17/1711icm.pdf

briefly:
43% welcome his visit, 36% prefer he did not come
generally speacking, 62% think USA a force for good, 15% for evil
47% think attack on Iraq was justified, 41% not
25% think forces should pull out of Iraq now, 67% stay till more stable

The Guardian's "majority welcome state visit" (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1087545,00.html) is therefore misleading. A majority still have a good view of the USA; more are for the visit than against, but a significant amount are undecided. Apparently in September the 'attack' numbers were 38% for, 53% against.

I don't know what date the September polls were - around the Hutton Inquiry hearings, anyway. Maybe that being in the news made people more against the attack.