According to this week's Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, Democratic voters in the critical early-primary states of Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire support Hillary Clinton's plan to end the war in Iraq over every other candidate.
Most Democrats want to withdraw from Iraq as soon as possible, but want the withdrawal done intelligently:
WASHINGTON - The most hawkish candidate in the Democratic race for president is drawing more support than her rivals from voters who want to withdraw troops right away, as well as from those who want a more gradual withdrawal.
A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll of voters in key early primary states reveals Hillary Rodham Clinton has found a sweet spot in the debate that makes her appealing to a broad swatch of voters.
The findings help explain why the New York senator, long chastised by anti-war activists for her 2002 vote authorizing the invasion and her refusal to recant it, has built a strong lead over rivals who have made opposition to the war a centerpiece of their campaigns and who have laid out more detailed plans for quicker troop reductions.
Hillary is once again showing that she's the candidate most attuned to the wishes of Democrats. She's been sharp and thorough in the primary debates, and has explained why a phased withdrawal, starting immediately, is critical -- there are a large number of American contractors in Iraq that need protecting; the military logistics of a withdrawal demand that it be done carefully (hence Clinton's written and public demands on the Pentagon to begin such planning); and the need to prevent the region from descending even further into sectarian strife and/or wide-scale genocide.
According to Newsday:
Most notably, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina began his campaign by declaring his 2002 authorization vote a "mistake," while Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois frequently notes that, even though he was a state legislator at the time, he opposed the war from the beginning. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has called for an immediate withdrawal.
The poll, which surveyed registered voters who planned to vote in the primaries or caucuses in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire, found a plurality in each state thought Clinton more than her rivals would be "the best at ending the war in Iraq" - 33 percent in Iowa, 32 percent in New Hampshire and 36 percent in South Carolina. Clinton holds big leads even among voters who list the war as the biggest priority facing candidates. The survey, conducted from Sept. 6 to 10, has an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points; among Iowa Democrats it was 4 percentage points.
Clinton won support from 36 percent of New Hampshire Democratic primary voters who said they wanted troops withdrawn "as soon as possible," compared with just 14 percent of those voters who backed Obama and 12 percent for Edwards. Clinton also led among voters who said they supported more a gradual withdrawal and who backed staying in Iraq until the war is won.
The LA Times noted that Obama's and Edwards' attacks on Clinton aren't working:
Democratic pollster Dave Beattie, who is not affiliated with a campaign, said Clinton's rivals risked reaching a "point of diminishing returns" if they focused too heavily on differences between them and Clinton on Iraq.
Most voters, he said, are not concerned about the differences, given that each candidate is essentially critical of the war and promises to end it.
SOURCE:
http://www.newsday.com/...
http://www.latimes.com/...