American Public Opinion on the Iraq War

The war in Iraq is notable for the extraordinary number of public opinion surveys and the almost unprecedented, multipronged efforts of the Bush administration to generate public support for its policies. After a brief history of both the domestic and international politics preceding the war and of the war itself, Ole R. Holsti explores the extent to which changes in public opinion reflected the vigorous public relations efforts of the administration to gain support for the war and the partisanship marking debates over policies toward Iraq. Finding that the public's disenchantment with U.S. foreign policy grew between 2003 and 2009, Holsti investigates the ways in which the Iraq experience has led substantial numbers of Americans to reconsider their nation's proper international role, the nature of threats to vital national interests, the importance of various international goals that the United States might pursue, and the circumstances that would warrant the deployment of American forces into conflict situations abroad. He assesses the impact that public opinion has had on policymakers and places his findings in a broader context to address the role of public opinion and of the media in democratic governance. “A substantial contribution to understanding the role of public opinion and the news media during the Iraq War. Equally impressive, it effectively puts the domestic context of U.S. policy in historical perspective, making the book useful to historians as well as to political scientists.' — Ralph B. Levering, Davidson College