Polls suggest public thinks U.S. underestimated Iraqis, expects a long war

WASHINGTON -- The American public is increasingly convinced the United States underestimated Iraqi's resistance to an invasion and is expecting the war to last months, say polls that also indicate public support for the war remains strong.

At least seven in 10 in several new polls say they back the Iraq war, now that U.S. troops are fighting in that country.

"The overall support remains strong," said Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion specialist at the American Enterprise Institute, "because at its base that is support for the country, the troops and the president."

More than half, 55 percent, say the United States underestimated Iraqi resistance to invasion, according to a CBS News poll. Two-thirds in that poll said they think the war will last months, up from four in 10 late last week who expected that duration.

Eighty-two percent said they think a significant number of casualties will result, up from 37 percent in the opening days of the war, according to an ABC-Washington Post poll. Before the war, almost two-thirds in that poll said they thought there would be a significant number of casualties.

The growing worries about casualties and the length of the war won't immediately affect public support as long as people think the U.S. military is making progress, said Robert Shapiro, a public opinion specialist at Columbia University.

"The public will accept casualties as long as there are indications of success in the war effort," Shapiro said. "What's really crucial here are the perceptions of effectiveness and performance."

Sixty-two percent in the CBS poll said removing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is worth the potential costs of the war, including the loss of life. Twenty-eight percent said they feel nervous or edgy about the war.

Just over half in a new CNN-Time poll said they believed the war against Iraq has been successful, 8 percent said unsuccessful, and 37 percent said somewhere in between.

But people indicated they are uneasy about the potential impact on the economy.

Two-thirds in the ABC-Post poll said they support the Senate's proposed reduction to $350 billion of President Bush's proposed tax cut of $726 billion. They were evenly split on whether to eliminate the proposed tax cut altogether.

The ABC-Post poll of 508 adults and the CNN-Time poll of 1,014 adults were taken Thursday. The CBS poll of 868 adults was taken Wednesday and Thursday. The error margin for the CBS and the CNN-Time poll was plus or minus 3 percentage points; it was 4.5 percentage points for the ABC-Post poll.