1. Americans and Iraq, Twelve Years Later: Comparing Support for the Bush Wars in Iraq.
- Author
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Slusser, Suzanne R. and Williams, Dana M.
- Subjects
PERSIAN Gulf War, 1991 ,DEMOGRAPHIC change ,SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC factors - Abstract
This paper considers the socio-demographic changes between the American public's support for the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq War in 2003. Various characteristics of respondents are expected to change on the basis of past research, including gender, age, race, income, education, and party affiliation. In nearly every instance, support decreased from 1991 to 2003. The only demographics that increased in their support for the use of military force were respondents who earned less than $10,000 per year, had less than a high school education, and were Republican affiliated. Women were less supportive of force than men, but both genders decreased their support between the two conflicts. African-Americans were less supportive than other minorities, who were in turn less supportive than Whitesâ”still, all races decreased in their overall support in 2003. Less income was associated with less support. Those with lower educational attainment and higher attainment were the least supportive, with the greatest support in both wars coming from those with associate degrees. Support for force tended to decrease with age. Republicans were, predictably given the Republican presidents during both wars, more supportive than Democrats and Independents. Regression analysis showed there was a significant change in support for force between the two years even when holding constant all demographic variables. Thus, as the Iraq War was aimed at changing the governmental regime of Iraq and the Persian Gulf War only aimed at forcing Iraq from Kuwait, there is some credence to the argument that the nature of a war could have an effect on popular support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008