Survey Says: Polling the Troops in Iraq
Categories: Iraq
The new Zogby poll of U.S. soldiers in Iraq is being picked over by the blogosphere. According to the poll, “An overwhelming majority of 72 percent of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year”: 29 percent say “immediately,” 22 percent say “in the next six months,” and 21 percent say “between six and 12 months.” Only 23 percent say American troops should stay “as long as they are needed.”
Democratic pollster Mark Blumenthal, who blogs as the influential Mystery Pollster, spoke to John Zogby about the poll’s methodology. On an off-the-record basis, Zogby explained what Blumenthal calls his “creative solution to the difficult problem of polling troops in Iraq.” Blumenthal calls the results “uncertain,” in part because Zogby’s method “constrained his ability” to randomly select the locations in Iraq where he polled U.S. troops:
