Significant Minority Still Believe that Iraq Had Weapons of Mass Destruction When U.S. Invaded

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – November 10, 2008 – While a majority of U.S. adults believe that Iraq did not have any weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded in March 2003, surprisingly, a significant number of U.S. adults (37%) still believe today that Iraq had such weapons.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll®, a new nationwide survey of 1,010 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone between October 16 and 20, 2008 by Harris Interactive^®.

Specifically, the survey finds:

• By 55 to 37 percent, a majority is not confident that Iraq will be successful in developing a stable and reasonably democratic government. This has not changed since July 2006 when a 56 to 37 percent majority also felt this way.
• Half (50%) adults agree that invading and occupying Iraq has motivated more Islamic terrorists to attack the United States. This is down significantly from 61% who felt this way in July 2006.
• By 57 to 39 percent, a clear majority does not think that invading Iraq has helped to reduce the threat of another terrorist attack against the United States. This is similar to the 58 to 41 percent majority that felt this way in July 2006.

U.S. adults believe that the following are true about the war in Iraq:

• Seven in ten (70%) believe that the Iraqis are better off now than they were under Saddam Hussein (slightly down from July 2006 when 72% said this was true).
• Fifty-two percent say it is true that Saddam Hussein had strong links to Al Qaeda (down significantly from 64% in July 2006).
• Just under half (48%) think history will give the U.S. credit for bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq (down from 55% in July 2006).

Overall, as President Bush prepares to leave office in January attitudes toward the war in Iraq remain negative even though there have been signs of progress in that country. Less than half of the U.S. population believes that the threat of terrorism has been reduced. Furthermore, while many U.S. adults believe that Iraqis are better off now than they were under Saddam Hussein, many are also not confident that Iraq’s government will eventually become stable.

"Are you confident that Iraq will be successful in developing a stable and reasonably democratic government?"

Base: All Adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100 percent due to rounding.

"Please say whether you agree or disagree with the following statements?"

Base: All Adults

"Do you believe that the following statements are true or not true?"

Base: All Adults

"Do you believe that the following statements are true or not true?"

Base: All Adults

The Harris Poll® was conducted by telephone within the United States between October 16 and 20, 2008 among a nationwide cross section of 1,010 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, number of adults, number of voice/telephone lines in the household, region and size of place were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

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