Poll Finds Dissatisfaction Over Iraq

Dissatisfaction with President Obama's conduct of foreign policy has shot up among both Republicans and Democrats in the last month, even though a slim majority supports his recent decision to send military advisers to Iraq to confront the growing threat from militants there, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The survey suggests that most Americans back some of Mr. Obama's approaches to the crisis in Iraq, including majority support for the possibility of drone strikes. But the poll documents an increasing lack of faith in the president and his leadership, and shows deep concern that further intervention by the United States in Iraq could lead to another long and costly involvement there.

The poll found that 58 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Mr. Obama is handling foreign policy, a jump of 10 points in the last month to the highest level since Mr. Obama took office in 2009. The spike in disapproval is especially striking among Democrats, nearly a third of whom said they did not approve of his handling of foreign policy.

Document: Full Poll Results

Fifty-two percent say they disapprove of how the president is dealing with the current violence in Iraq (including about a third of Democrats), and 37 percent approve.

'I voted for him because he said, 'Give me four more years and I will fix everything,' but nothing is being fixed,' Michelle Roberts, 34, a Democrat from Salem, Mass., said in a follow-up interview. 'I understand he wants to fight terrorism, but send in robots, drones. Don't send in our troops. Our men and women are dying for what?'

The erosion in support across both parties has contributed to a drop in Mr. Obama's overall rating that threatens to undermine his administration's political ambitions during the remaining two and a half years of his second term. The president's approval rating is now at 40 percent, while 54 percent say they disapprove of the job he is doing in office, a six-point jump since May.

Despite the unhappiness about Mr. Obama's leadership, 51 percent of those surveyed, including Republicans, Democrats and independents, said they supported his recent decision to send 300 military advisers to Iraq. Fifty-six percent said they supported the use of drones in Iraq, a military option that Mr. Obama's advisers have said is still on the table as the militants, known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, have extended gains across the northern parts of the country.

A little over half of Americans also favor the idea of working with Iran in a limited capacity to try to resolve the situation in Iraq. Iran's Shiite leaders support the Shiite-led government in Baghdad, but Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has publicly opposed efforts by the United States to help Iraq's government fight back against Islamic extremists and Sunni militants.

The national poll was conducted June 20 to 22 by landline and cellphone among 1,009 adults with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Although the survey suggests that Mr. Obama's small steps toward military action in Iraq are in line with those of many Americans, it also indicates that people may still yearn for their commander in chief to manage foreign crises, even when the solutions are not obvious to them. A large majority thinks that the United States has important interests in Iraq's future. Two-thirds said Mr. Obama had not done enough to explain American goals in the country.

Mr. Obama built his 2008 presidential campaign in part on opposing George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, and the departure of all troops in 2011 for a time appeared to close a searing chapter in American life. The latest questions about a new United States involvement there threatens to reopen old wounds.

'We didn't finish up the job in Vietnam, and we didn't finish up the first time in Iraq or the second time in Iraq,' said Phil Clark, 62, a Democrat and retired nurse from Santee, Calif. 'I have a lot of animosity toward Bush because of those actions. I just see it all happening again.'

In addition, three quarters of those surveyed said the war was not worth the American lives lost and other costs of attacking Iraq, a record level of regret about a conflict that lasted nearly nine years.

Mr. Obama's declaration in recent weeks that he will not send ground troops back into Iraq mirrors the views of a wide majority of Americans. But after a decade of war, a substantial number - 42 percent - said the United States still had a responsibility to do something about the violence in Iraq.

And yet, the poll showed that the country is divided about how to meet it. Republicans tend to favor more aggressive action: Fifty-four percent of Republicans support using manned aircraft to carry out targeted attacks in Iraq, while only 38 percent of Democrats favor such action. Nearly 70 percent of Republicans said they would support the use of drones in Iraq, compared to 55 percent for Democrats.

Similarly, Republicans largely saidMr. Obama should be doing more to address the situation in Iraq, while most Democrats said he was doing the right amount. Well over half of those surveyed said the situation in Iraq was beyond the control of the United States.

The current violence in Iraq has renewed the debate about whether the United States should have kept some troops in Iraq after all American military forces withdrew at the end of 2011. In the survey, 50 percent said the United States should have removed all its forces and 42 percent said it should have left some there. There were large partisan divisions, with a wide majority of Republicans saying some troops should have been left there and about as many Democrats disagreeing.

'I would have preferred it if the troops had never left,' said Gregory M. Taylor, 62, a Republican and retired business owner from Three Rivers, Mich. 'Their government has no inner structure and is totally falling apart. Keeping military advisers keeps our presence known.'

Nikki Bahls, 41, a Democrat from Edgewood, Iowa, said she didn't 'agree with getting our nose into something that has been going on for centuries.'

' We are not going to be able to fix it,' she said. 'I used to have hope. I had hope when I voted for Obama, but it's changed.'

Americans are also split over whether the threat of terrorism against the United States will increase as a result of the violence in Iraq. Half said it would stay the same while 44 percent said the threat of terrorism would increase. (A large majority - 83 percent - said the situation in Iraq would cause an increase in gas prices in the United States.)

The survey found an increase in the number of people who said the policies of Mr. Obama's administration had made the United States more vulnerable to terrorism. A year ago, 28 percent said the country was less safe under the Obama administration, while 36 percent said so now.