Americans on the War Divided, Glum, Unwilling to Quit

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As the poll makes clear, Nixon could buy more time and support for his program of troop withdrawal by turning the fighting over to volunteers. Fifty-two percent of the public favored a voluntary force for Viet Nam; 46% of the leaders were willing to go along. Most would be willing to leave a volunteer army in Viet Nam for another year.

Although few people seem to be thinking in terms of a specific time limit for an end to U.S. involvement in Viet Nam, well under a majority of either the public or the leaders were willing to let the President maintain existing troop strength for more than a year. No more than 23% of the public and 18% of the leaders agreed to leave troops at the present 500,000 level for more than a year, although 10% were willing to keep them there for as long as five years. Nor are many more willing to tolerate what is reported to be the President's fallback position on troop reductions. Only 27% of the public and 25% of the leaders agreed to keeping a substantially lower 200,000-troop level in Viet Nam beyond next fall. By much the same proportions, Americans rejected the long-term use of a mixed force of volunteers and draftees. Just 28% of the public and 27% of the leaders agreed to keep a mixture of 125,000 volunteers and 75,000 draftees in Southeast Asia for more than a year. However, 37% of the public and 33% of the leaders were willing to leave a 200,000-man all-volunteer force in Viet Nam for at least two more years, and 16% were agreeable to letting them stay for five.

Changing Attitudes on the War

Fully 80% of the public and 81% of the leadership group are simply tired of the war. They feel that it was a mistake to begin with, and has been a needless waste of lives. Said Harris: "The basic rationale and justification for the Vietnamese war are rapidly fading from the consciousness of the people." Where two years ago 83% of the public agreed that the war was necessary to resist Communist aggression in Asia, today only 55% of the general public and 49% of the leadership accept this explanation. Even fewer said that Viet Nam is crucial to U.S. interests. Only 41% of the public and 32% of the leadership agreed with the proposition that the war is necessary to guarantee national security.

The public and the leaders held divergent views on both the necessity for "saving face" and the firmness of the U.S. commitment to remain in Southeast Asia. Half of the public accepted the idea that the U.S. has placed its reputation on the line in Viet Nam and could not leave until it had assured South Vietnamese independence; 54% of the leaders disagreed. Nearly half (48%) of the public went along with the proposition that the U.S. presence in Viet Nam was a commitment not just to the Vietnamese, but to the world; 54% of the leaders rejected this, too.

Has this new mood helped the antiwar movement?

Skepticism about the reasons for the war has created a climate of tolerance for the dissenters whom Vice President Spiro Agnew attacked last week. Seventy percent of the leaders refused to buy the argument that opposition to the war is led by radicals who do not care what happens to the U.S. Forty-nine percent of the public went along with them.