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A fortnight after Prime Minister John Howard announced an extra 450 Australian troops would be sent to Iraq, almost two-thirds of Australian electors (63%) say they disapprove of Mr Howard’s decision, while 32% have said they approved and 5% were unable to say, a special Morgan Poll conducted March 9/10 finds.

While just over half of L-NP supporters (51%) approved of sending extra troops to Iraq, the overwhelming majority of ALP supporters (84%) and a large majority of supporters of all minor parties (Greens 76%, Other Parties and Independent Candidates 72%, Australian Democrats 70%) disapproved of the decision to send more troops.

Australian’s opinion of whether Australia should have a military presence in Iraq remains stable, with half of all Australian electors (51%, down only 1% since late September) saying Australia should not have a military presence in Iraq and 45% (unchanged) say Australia should have a presence in Iraq (4% can’t say).

Further, the majority of Australian electors (53%) believe we should bring our forces back to Australia, while 44% believe Australian troops should continue to fight in Iraq (3% can’t say).

A Morgan Poll in mid-May 2004, after the public exposé of the US treatment of Iraqi prisoners, saw the balance tip against having a presence in Iraq (50% compared with 47% in favor), while in early April 2004, before the revelations of prisoner abuse, the balance favored having a presence in Iraq (50% compared with 46% against).

The electorate is highly polarised on the issue of whether Australian troops should continue fighting in Iraq . Now, 63% of L-NP supporters favor Australia continuing to fight in Iraq (33% bring back to Australia , 4% can’t say), while 68% of ALP supporters believe Australian troops should be brought back to Australia (29% continue to fight in Iraq , 3% can’t say).

The results of this latest Morgan Poll contrast strongly with the results of two Morgan Polls concerning the Vietnam War conducted in 1965. In July 1965, 52% of Australians aged 21 and over said they approved of the L-CP Government’s decision of the day to send 800 troops to Vietnam (37% disapproved, 11% can’t say), and the majority of Australians (52%) said they believed Australia should continue to fight in Vietnam rather than bring the troops back home (28% bring back, 16% can’t say).

This special Morgan Poll was conducted by telephone on the nights of March 9/10 with an Australia-wide cross-section of 570 electors.

Gary Morgan : Office (03) 9224 5213 Mobile 0411 129 094 Home (03) 9419 3242

Table 1 . Australia's Military Presence in Iraq

Respondents were asked: "Now thinking about Iraq - in your opinion, should Australia have a military presence in Iraq?"

	2004						2005	Analysis by Federal Voting Intention
	Total	Total	Total	Total	Total	Total	Total			Aust.	The	Ind /	No
	Mar	May	May	Aug	Sept	Sept	Mar	L-NP	ALP	Dems#	Greens	Other#	Answer#
	31/Apr 1	12	19/20	4-8	15/16	29/30	9/10
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes, have a presence in Iraq	50	47	47	49	46	45	45	68	26	30	27	31	62
No, not have a presence in Iraq	46	49	50	48	51	52	51	30	69	70	71	66	21
Can't say	4	4	3	3	3	3	4	2	5	-	2	3	17
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

# Sample sizes under 50 should be treated with caution

Table 2. Sending Extra Troops to Iraq

Respondents were then asked: "Do you approve or disapprove of the decision to send 450 more Australian troops to Iraq?"

	Analysis by Federal Voting Intention
	800 troops to	450 troops to
	Vietnam*	Iraq
	May	Mar 9/10			Aust	The	Ind/	No
	1965*	2005	L-NP	ALP	Dem.#	Greens#	Other#	Answer#
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Approve	52	32	51	13	30	22	25	56
Disapprove	37	63	41	84	70	76	72	23
Can't say	11	5	8	3	-	2	3	21
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

# Sample sizes under 50 should be treated with caution

*Asked of all Asutralians aged 21 and over

Table 3. Australia's Continued Presence in Iraq

Respondents were then asked: "Do you think we should continue to fight in Iraq or bring our forces back to Australia?"

	Analysis by Federal Voting Intention
	Fight in	Fight in
	Vietnam*	Iraq
	September	Mar 9/10			Aust	The	Ind/	No
	1965*	2005	L-NP	ALP	Dem.#	Greens#	Other#	Answer#
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Continue	56	44	63	29	47	25	23	67
Bring back	28	53	33	68	53	70	77	33
Can't say	16	3	4	3	-	5	-	-
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

# Sample sizes under 50 should be treated with caution

*Asked of all Asutralians aged 21 and over

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