Calculating Support for a War in Iraq

March 2 -- The seemingly imminent war with Iraq does not lend itself to number-crunching, but there are a few questions that have a numerical aspect to them.

One of them is: How do we measure popular support for the war with Iraq? Paying undue attention to media pundits, Hollywood celebrities, or retired military officers is probably a bad idea. Trying futilely to count protesters or listening only to government officials is not much better.

But what about polls, about which we usually hear much more than we do now? Let's start with Europe.

Does Europe Support the U.S. Position?

One hears repeatedly that 16 of 19 European countries (including the big three of Albania, Bulgaria, and Croatia) support the U.S. position on Iraq. There is the implicit claim that Europe therefore supports the U.S. point of view.

A more modest conclusion is that for a wide variety of reasons the administrations of 16 of 19 European countries have decided to follow the Bush administration's lead. National polls indicate, however, that in almost all these countries there are solid, and in some cases huge, majorities opposed to war at this time. Even in the United Kingdom there is strong popular opposition.

Given the polls, it seems safe to say that the majority of Europeans agree with the minority position of the much-derided French, German, and Belgian governments. Since the questions of the various national polls differ and since different countries have different concerns, comparing them is a bit like comparing Camembert and Gorgonzola.

Nevertheless, the claim that Europe supports the U.S. position on Iraq is misleading at best.

What About Here and Elsewhere?

One problem with gauging war sentiment here and elsewhere in the world is that the situation is complex and volatile.

Most people's reasons for supporting or opposing the war depend on the rationale for it. A few of the possibilities: Is it that we're enforcing U.N. resolution 1441 on weapons? Is it that we're attempting regime change? Is it that we're planning to break the alleged Iraq-al Qaeda nexus? Is it that we're going to liberate the Iraqis? Is it that, like the man looking for his car keys under the street lamp after having lost them by the trees, we're attacking the street lamp of Iraq because the al Qaeda trees have been so maddeningly elusive?