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New Poll Shows Americans Don't Think War Is Going As Well As Previous Polls

Aired March 26, 2003 - 11:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We've heard from a lot of administration officials, including the president, today, preparing the American public for a long and sustained campaign. We've already seen a shift in public opinion of how they view the outcome of this war, quite dramatically from Friday to Monday. A new poll by the Pew Research Group. Let's check in with Bill Schneider to educate us about that and some other polling that's been done.
Good morning, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That poll was, in fact, showed a very serious drop in the percentage of Americans who think the war is going very well, dropped from 69 percent on Saturday, to 38 percent on Monday. Does that mean Americans morale is flagging? Not necessarily, because in the same poll they show 74 percent still say that military force, using military force, going to war against Iraq, was the right decision. So while Americans are becoming more realistic about what's going on in the war and about how tough it's going to be, their support has not flagged.

ZAHN: There's also some brand new polling from the "New York Times" that you've had a chance to analyze.

SCHNEIDER: It's a warning sign to President Bush. There's very serious questions with very disturbing answers. "New York Times" reports when Americans were asked over the weekend, do you think the Bush administration has clearly explained how much money this war is gonna cost, 67 percent of Americans say no.

Have they clearly explained how long it will last, 61 percent say no.

Have they clearly explained how many American military personnel may be killed, 71 percent, no.

Americans feel as if they haven't been told the facts. That's a warning sign. That's the beginning of a credibility gap. That's a Vietnam word that we don't ever want to hear again. But it does show Americans think the Bush administration has not been entirely forthcoming with the American people.

ZAHN: While the administration has said repeatedly they don't rule by polls, clearly someone is looking at these polls on a day to day basis. What do you think is the most serious lesson to be learned? That credibility gap? SCHNEIDER: That credibility gap, Americans want the president, the administration, to be straight with them. They want them to tell them the facts. They want to hear two things: a realistic picture of how long it will take, what the cost will be in terms of lives and money. But they also want to make sure the president knows and says to them, we're on the right track, we know what we are doing, our objectives are clear and we're getting there. It just may cost more and take longer. If the administration starts going down the road of being optimistic all the time, things are great, things are terrific, the public isn't going to believe them. And that could be very dangerous.

ZAHN: You got a lot of numbers dancing around in that smart head of yours. I'm curious when you're off, if you're still crunching number?.

SCHNEIDER: All the time. I also speak to people and though to get the view from various people to see what they think is going on. Spoke to people in London about Tony Blair, we'll talk about that later.

ZAHN: You can give us an idea. Some of the public opinion has bounced back, right?

SCHNEIDER: Tony Blair, is famous for being a poll-driveren politician. He turned the polls around. Percentage of the British who say he's doing the right thing in Iraq has gone up 55 percent. He's rallied the public behind him. He's here in Washington today because he wants to try to heal the breach between the United States and Europe. That's his primary mission. He does not want to see the U.S. and Europe divided which, frankly, is what he's worried the French and Germans and Russians want to do.

ZAHN: Bill Schneider, thank you very much. We knew we could count on you to help us better with all those numbers out there today.

Back to Bill now in Kuwait City.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, listening to Marty Savidge talk about the one question the Marines ask him is how do the American people feel about the military operation. Quite interesting what's happening inside the battlefield in Iraq.

Speaking of Iraq, Renay San Miguel back with us with the general to talk about the latest military movements and the strategy that might be forming.

Hello again.

RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

We're going to be talking about Martin Savidge, those reports he's been giving us concerning some of the activity he's been seeing on that resupply line he is in.

Joining us is cNN Analyst, retired Army General David Grange. The closer the Coalition gets to Baghdad, the longer that supply line stretches out, the more dangerous it becomes, I guess.

GEN. DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Absolutely. If we go to the map board -- just a reminder the red icons are Iraqi units, very generic in nature. The blue icons are coalition forces. What you have, up here by the Najaf and Karbala area, the forward line of maneuver forces, just imagine 200 miles from the rear of that, all the way back toward Kuwait. Hundreds of areas of miles are moving with fuel, with bullets, with water, and it is quite an effort.

SAN MIGUEL: We saw video of just truck upon truck just rows of them just stretched out across the desert. Speaking of other ambushes that have been going on, Lisa Rose Weaver is with the 52nd air defense artillery brigade. She talked about an ambush going on somewhere in central Iraq, to be generic, in that area right there. It's going to be a dangerous situation.

GRANGE: It's north of, we think, Nasariyah. It may not be. But then short of the Republican Guard division. The deployment up through here by the Karbala, Kirkuk line. This area is no man's land. Iraqi forces are going to use ambushes as an economy of force measure to try to destroy as much of the resupply that the forward coalition forces need to continue the attack.

SAN MIGUEL: When you say Iraqi forces you may all be talking about the Fedayeen Saddam, these thugs as you saw them before, that are in pickup trucks with rocket propelled grenades in the bed of the truck.

GRANGE: This is quite a mix and I think what needs to be understood, we're talking about the thugs of this. We're talking about in the cities manipulating people. Out here in the country side, we're talking about special forces, Iraqi Special Forces and other paramilitary organizations.

SAN MIGUEL: While we're on the subject, let's go to Basra, imaging provided by earthviewer.com and digitalglobe.com talking about the uprising that is supposedly going on here. Tony Blair believes there is a limited uprising of sorts. What's limiting it is the help that they're getting from U.S. and British forces. How important is that?

GRANGE: I's very important, in fact the civil affairs activities -- civil affairs means fixing water supply forces, working with the infrastructure to get roads open,to get food in. The British are doing a yomen's job, from what we know, trying to make that happen, at the same time fighting paramilitary forces using unconventional warfare in the city.

SAN MIGUEL: If the coalition can get this going, and this may spread to other cities, other areas where maybe the populous will take up arms against the Iraqi regime.

GRANGE: This is winning the hearts and minds and at the same time destroying enemy forces. SAN MIGUEL: Thanks a lot, general, we'll be talking with you more. Back to you, Bill.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




As Previous Polls>


Aired March 26, 2003 - 11:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We've heard from a lot of administration officials, including the president, today, preparing the American public for a long and sustained campaign. We've already seen a shift in public opinion of how they view the outcome of this war, quite dramatically from Friday to Monday. A new poll by the Pew Research Group. Let's check in with Bill Schneider to educate us about that and some other polling that's been done.
Good morning, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That poll was, in fact, showed a very serious drop in the percentage of Americans who think the war is going very well, dropped from 69 percent on Saturday, to 38 percent on Monday. Does that mean Americans morale is flagging? Not necessarily, because in the same poll they show 74 percent still say that military force, using military force, going to war against Iraq, was the right decision. So while Americans are becoming more realistic about what's going on in the war and about how tough it's going to be, their support has not flagged.

ZAHN: There's also some brand new polling from the "New York Times" that you've had a chance to analyze.

SCHNEIDER: It's a warning sign to President Bush. There's very serious questions with very disturbing answers. "New York Times" reports when Americans were asked over the weekend, do you think the Bush administration has clearly explained how much money this war is gonna cost, 67 percent of Americans say no.

Have they clearly explained how long it will last, 61 percent say no.

Have they clearly explained how many American military personnel may be killed, 71 percent, no.

Americans feel as if they haven't been told the facts. That's a warning sign. That's the beginning of a credibility gap. That's a Vietnam word that we don't ever want to hear again. But it does show Americans think the Bush administration has not been entirely forthcoming with the American people.

ZAHN: While the administration has said repeatedly they don't rule by polls, clearly someone is looking at these polls on a day to day basis. What do you think is the most serious lesson to be learned? That credibility gap? SCHNEIDER: That credibility gap, Americans want the president, the administration, to be straight with them. They want them to tell them the facts. They want to hear two things: a realistic picture of how long it will take, what the cost will be in terms of lives and money. But they also want to make sure the president knows and says to them, we're on the right track, we know what we are doing, our objectives are clear and we're getting there. It just may cost more and take longer. If the administration starts going down the road of being optimistic all the time, things are great, things are terrific, the public isn't going to believe them. And that could be very dangerous.

ZAHN: You got a lot of numbers dancing around in that smart head of yours. I'm curious when you're off, if you're still crunching number?.

SCHNEIDER: All the time. I also speak to people and though to get the view from various people to see what they think is going on. Spoke to people in London about Tony Blair, we'll talk about that later.

ZAHN: You can give us an idea. Some of the public opinion has bounced back, right?

SCHNEIDER: Tony Blair, is famous for being a poll-driveren politician. He turned the polls around. Percentage of the British who say he's doing the right thing in Iraq has gone up 55 percent. He's rallied the public behind him. He's here in Washington today because he wants to try to heal the breach between the United States and Europe. That's his primary mission. He does not want to see the U.S. and Europe divided which, frankly, is what he's worried the French and Germans and Russians want to do.

ZAHN: Bill Schneider, thank you very much. We knew we could count on you to help us better with all those numbers out there today.

Back to Bill now in Kuwait City.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, listening to Marty Savidge talk about the one question the Marines ask him is how do the American people feel about the military operation. Quite interesting what's happening inside the battlefield in Iraq.

Speaking of Iraq, Renay San Miguel back with us with the general to talk about the latest military movements and the strategy that might be forming.

Hello again.

RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

We're going to be talking about Martin Savidge, those reports he's been giving us concerning some of the activity he's been seeing on that resupply line he is in.

Joining us is cNN Analyst, retired Army General David Grange. The closer the Coalition gets to Baghdad, the longer that supply line stretches out, the more dangerous it becomes, I guess.

GEN. DAVID GRANGE, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Absolutely. If we go to the map board -- just a reminder the red icons are Iraqi units, very generic in nature. The blue icons are coalition forces. What you have, up here by the Najaf and Karbala area, the forward line of maneuver forces, just imagine 200 miles from the rear of that, all the way back toward Kuwait. Hundreds of areas of miles are moving with fuel, with bullets, with water, and it is quite an effort.

SAN MIGUEL: We saw video of just truck upon truck just rows of them just stretched out across the desert. Speaking of other ambushes that have been going on, Lisa Rose Weaver is with the 52nd air defense artillery brigade. She talked about an ambush going on somewhere in central Iraq, to be generic, in that area right there. It's going to be a dangerous situation.

GRANGE: It's north of, we think, Nasariyah. It may not be. But then short of the Republican Guard division. The deployment up through here by the Karbala, Kirkuk line. This area is no man's land. Iraqi forces are going to use ambushes as an economy of force measure to try to destroy as much of the resupply that the forward coalition forces need to continue the attack.

SAN MIGUEL: When you say Iraqi forces you may all be talking about the Fedayeen Saddam, these thugs as you saw them before, that are in pickup trucks with rocket propelled grenades in the bed of the truck.

GRANGE: This is quite a mix and I think what needs to be understood, we're talking about the thugs of this. We're talking about in the cities manipulating people. Out here in the country side, we're talking about special forces, Iraqi Special Forces and other paramilitary organizations.

SAN MIGUEL: While we're on the subject, let's go to Basra, imaging provided by earthviewer.com and digitalglobe.com talking about the uprising that is supposedly going on here. Tony Blair believes there is a limited uprising of sorts. What's limiting it is the help that they're getting from U.S. and British forces. How important is that?

GRANGE: I's very important, in fact the civil affairs activities -- civil affairs means fixing water supply forces, working with the infrastructure to get roads open,to get food in. The British are doing a yomen's job, from what we know, trying to make that happen, at the same time fighting paramilitary forces using unconventional warfare in the city.

SAN MIGUEL: If the coalition can get this going, and this may spread to other cities, other areas where maybe the populous will take up arms against the Iraqi regime.

GRANGE: This is winning the hearts and minds and at the same time destroying enemy forces. SAN MIGUEL: Thanks a lot, general, we'll be talking with you more. Back to you, Bill.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




As Previous Polls>