Canadian Public Opinion Polls on Afghanistan

[George Wallace]

Hey.  We have the "Mcdonald's Generations".  All those people who want to get in, get their burger, and get out, as fast as possible.  None of them realize that we are still in Europe as part of NATO, since 1945.  UN Troops are still separating the Greeks and Turks in Cyprus.  There are still Troops in the Golan.  What do they expect we do with a real shooting war; end it overnight and come home?

:

 

[Edward Campbell]

Hey.  We have the "Mcdonald's Generations".  All those people who want to get in, get their burger, and get out, as fast as possible.  None of them realize that we are still in Europe as part of NATO, since 1945.  UN Troops are still separating the Greeks and Turks in Cyprus.  There are still Troops in the Golan.  What do they expect we do with a real shooting war; end it overnight and come home?

:

That's pretty much exactly what "they" expect, for the reasons to which you allude.

Even in 1944/45 Canadians (and Americans) were getting impatient for the end of the campaigns in Europe and Asia. In 1944/45 people understood that we had pretty much won the war; they no longer feared Germany and Japan, they just wanted a quick end to the death and destruction and, especially, the relative privations they were enduring - even in comfortable, safe Canada and the USA.

This campaign is more difficult. The wars against Germany, Japan and North Korea/China were fairly clear and comprehensible. A counterinsurgency campaign is not; telling ourselves that "they" do not understand does nothing to help "them" to achieve the understanding "we" know to be necessary. It is unlikely that governments (America's or Britain's or Canada's) will be willing or able to make "them" understand so we have to accept that "they," the people, on whose behalf we go to war, do not want this one any more. It is, politically, time to declare victory and come home. If that is the political imperative then any and all military considerations are meaningless.

The very real, painful sacrifices made by soldiers and their famlies are not meaningless - only the military aims and plans are without any useful meaning.

 

[a_majoor]

Sigh

We are so close too. Victory in Iraq was last year just before the election, and if we were to presevere in Afghanistan until @ 2015, the first wave of the 6 million children who started going to school in 2005 will begin graduating, creating a big enough cadre to begin real social change in Afghanistan.

We can try and spread this message to everyone we meet and over every channel, but I suspect the constant drumbeat of defeatism has taken its toll.

What will hurt even more is the very same people who were so critical of the mission will be the same ones to scream bloody murder if a resurgent Taliban overrun Afghanistan again....

 

[GAP]

Boy, if they think Afghanistan is a quagmire, wait until we get to Darfur!!....that should last 3 maybe four months before our beasts inflict themselves too heavily on those poor itinerant freedom fighters!!! (sarcasm intended)

 

[Jungle]

I prefer not to get too excited by poll results... look at this one:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Somnia/1795206/story.html

The shift in how Canadians view the military's role beyond its 2011 commitment, however, is not a reflection of support for the troops, the poll showed.

A higher number of Canadians -- 82 per cent compared to 77 per cent two years ago -- said they are "proud of the men and women who serve in Canada's Armed Forces."

The biggest boost of support came from Quebec, where the number jumped to 76 per cent from 58 per cent.

Support for the Afghanistan mission itself has remained steady over the last year, with 48 per cent saying they strongly support, or somewhat support, the use of Canada's troops for security and combat efforts in Afghanistan. That figure is down slightly from 50 per cent in January 2008.

If this is any indation of "reality", it could mean that the CDN public is starting to understand that one can support the Troops regardless of their opinion of the political aspects of the current war. Now that should be good news.

 

[Edward Campbell]

I prefer not to get too excited by poll results... look at this one:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Somnia/1795206/story.htmlIf this is any indation of "reality", it could mean that the CDN public is starting to understand that one can support the Troops regardless of their opinion of the political aspects of the current war. Now that should be good news.

I have an old and dear friend, a research scientist - a well educated, thoughtful person (the two do not always go together), who fits that bill. She is quite opposed to the Afghanistan mission because she believes we have the wrong war aims (she opposes the Taliban and al Qaeda but she opposes the Global War on Terror even more). She is, however, very proud of "her" Canadian Forces - as a good citizen she understands that they are doing "her" bidding, even though she disagrees with the government's policies - and feels deep sadness at each casualty. Her position is nuanced but not internally or intellectually inconsistent. I suspect she is not alone and the reportedly broad and growing opposition to the war is accompanied by broad and growing support for the CF.

 

[ruckmarch]

ipsos reid asked 1000 people to arrive at their recent conclusion. How does that represent the whole country and every demographic or background of people there is out there?

These kind of polls have FLAWS written all over them IMHO

 

[40below]

ipsos reid asked 1000 people to arrive at their recent conclusion. How does that represent the whole country and every demographic or background of people there is out there?

These kind of polls have FLAWS written all over them IMHO

If you're asking how polls can possibly extrapolate from a small sample size, you should take a statistics 101 class. If you're asserting all polls are BS because you don't understand how they work, you should definitely take a statistics 101 class.

 

[ruckmarch]

If you're asking how polls can possibly extrapolate from a small sample size, you should take a statistics 101 class. If you're asserting all polls are BS because you don't understand how they work, you should definitely take a statistics 101 class.

Am not insinuating that, you ought to read my post again. If I didn't know how they worked, I sure wasn't going to ask someone like you, that has to say the same thing twice.

What is your nickname.....johnny two times?

 

[2 Cdo]

If you're asking how polls can possibly extrapolate from a small sample size, you should take a statistics 101 class. If you're asserting all polls are BS because you don't understand how they work, you should definitely take a statistics 101 class.

As someone who has been polled TWICE and hung up both times after asserting my strong support for the mission, I'm saying that I don't trust the polls due to a possible bias by the poller. I won't trust them anymore, and I don't give any credence to their "findings".

 

[observor 69]

West is pro the mission, East is anti the mission.

Sounds statistically valid to me. :nod:

 

[PMedMoe]

The biggest boost of support came from Quebec, where the number jumped to 76 per cent from 58 per cent.

Probably because 5 Bde is there right now.  That number will more than likely drop when this Roto is over.

 

[giver]

No wonder we were never going to win the war. The country didn't support it in the first place.

 

[zipperhead_cop]

No wonder we were never going to win the war. The country didn't support it in the first place.

Banned in one post is the record.  You are way over the mark, so either contribute something useful or knock it off. 
Please.

 

[giver]

Banned in one post is the record.  You are way over the mark, so either contribute something useful or knock it off. 
Please.

If you ban me you might as well ban the other 54%.

 

[PMedMoe]

If you ban me you might as well ban the other 54%.

Chances are, they're not here.  Give it up.

 

[giver]

There has got to be other Canadians here with the same logic as I do. Or is everyone here 100% pro Afghanistan?

 

[zipperhead_cop]

There has got to be other Canadians here with the same logic as I do. Or is everyone here 100% pro Afghanistan?

Dude, what site do you think you are on?  Perhaps rabble.ca will find you more support.
There are quite a few different opinions on how the mission should be run, but pretty much everyone here believes that it is worth it to try to help the people of Afghanistan because a) they can use the help and b) ignoring that country after the Russians left is what helped lead to Islamic extremism over there.
As well, everyone here welcomes intellectual discourse.  If you have some informed reasons for us to abandon Afghanistan then share them.  So far, you haven't really offered that, just pointing to a flawed poll and agreeing with it.
Just some friendly advice.

 

[mellian]

I am personally against the war, at least for lasting as long as it did. I am all for helping the people there, just that Afghanistan is not the only country and people that need help (help as in local kind of help and sensitive to the culture and perspectives). We, including our allies, do not have the means and resources to 'help' every single country that need help, or even those deem security threats.

All the positive reasons for being there can be applied to many other places, and it is really not why we went there in the first place. Canada went in in support of their allies and commitment to NATO who reacted to the Taliban harboring those who help orchestrate 9/11. They needed someone to hit, and we helped. Otherwise, we wouldn't have gone to Afghanistan and the country would still generally be ruled by the Taliban. 

Once the mission ends, would be good for Canada to consolidate, rest, and refurbish/update, and try avoid situations having our fair chunk of the military committed to one area for nearly a decade or more. 

So yes...

 

[TCBF]

No wonder we were never going to win the war. The country didn't support it in the first place.

- It isn't Canada that needs to support the war.  It's Afghanistan that needs to support the war. 

;D