ITV News Afghanistan Anniversary Poll

A public opinion poll on behalf of ITV News.

Date Published: 05 Oct 2011

Categories: Energy | International | Media | Politics | Public and communities | Technology & Telecoms

Description

ComRes/ ITV News Poll: 71% of public believe Afghan war is un-winnable

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, the latest poll conducted by ComRes and to be broadcast on ITV News at Ten, reveals that the public are more negative about the war in Afghanistan than they were in June. Nearly three quarters of the public (71%) agree that the Afghan war is un-winnable. This has risen by 11 percentage points since the same question was asked in June of this year.

Meanwhile, 62% disagree that having British forces in Afghanistan makes Britain a safer place. 18% agree it does and 20% are not sure.

In June, half (50%) of all people disagreed that the deaths of British soldiers in Afghanistan was highly regrettable but their sacrifice was justified by the cause they were fighting for. This number has since increased by ten percentage points with 60% who now disagree it is justified, 16% don’t know and a quarter, 24%, agree it is justified by the cause they are fighting for.

Finally, 57% agree that British troops should be withdrawn immediately from Afghanistan. A quarter (26%) disagree with this and 17% don’t know. Back in June, 48% agreed that British troops should be withdrawn immediately - so there has been an increase of 9 percentage points in less than five months.
 

Methodology: ComRes interviewed 2047 GB adults online between 30th September and 2nd October 2011.  Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults.  ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.