Support for Afghan War Drops Again, Especially Among Republicans

Via Derrick Crowe at The Seminal*, a new CNN poll has found that support for the Afghanistan war has dropped yet again, and now it’s at 39 percent, with 58 percent in opposition. That’s Iraq-in-2005 numbers, as CNN reminds. Once public support for a mission drops, it’s historically rare for it to rise again.

What accounts for the recent drop?

“Most of the recent erosion in support has come from within the GOP,” said Keating Holland, CNN’s polling director. “Unlike Democrats and independents, Republicans still favor the war, but their support has slipped eight points in just two weeks.”

That support is still at 62 percent from Republicans, as opposed to only 23 percent of Democrats and 39 percent of independents, so I think the partisan dynamic mentioned in my piece today still holds.

*Full disclosure: The Seminal is hosted by the mighty Firedoglake blog empire, which also hosts my personal blog.