Comparing Americans and Iraqis: Surprising Agreement on US Military Presence, But Americans Have Numerous Misperceptions of Iraqis

Abstract

A WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of Iraqis conducted in January of this year provides the opportunity to compare Iraqi views to American views found in a March 2006 WPO poll. [Click here for more complete presentation of the poll of Iraqis] Overall, Americans and Iraqis show a surprising amount of agreement about the presence of US military forces in Iraq, in particular opposing a permanent US presence and assuming that the US may well be planning one. Both sides also favor a more multilateral military operation in Iraq. At the same time, Americans and Iraqis have differing views of how things are going in Iraq and Americans have numerous misperceptions about the attitudes of Iraqis on a number of key issues.