Interesting article from Reuters...

[Mike Irwin]

Australia most in favor of military action against Iraq

Australia is the country most in favour of military action against Iraq, an international poll of 39 countries has found.

The Gallup International survey, released on Tuesday, found 68 per cent of Australians backed some sort of military action against Iraq.


However, 56 per cent were in favour only if the United Nations supported it, while just 12 per cent of Australians supported unilateral action by the United States and its allies.

Some 27 per cent of Australian respondents said they would not support war under any circumstances - five per cent didn't know.

In Australia, levels of support for war outstripped even the US, where the poll showed 67 per cent supported some type of military action.

However, 33 per cent of Americans supported unilateral action, and 34 per cent backing action if it was UN-sanctioned.

Some 21 per cent of Americans said they would not support war under any circumstances and 12 per cent didn't know.

Public opinion is split in Britain, where the Blair administration has lined up with Australia to support the US in its military build-up in the Middle East.

While 39 per cent of Britons were in favour of UN-backed military action against Iraq and another 10 per cent supported unilateral action, 41 per cent were opposed to military action under any circumstances, and 10 per cent didn't know.

The poll also found the vast majority of people in most countries thought war was likely to break out in the next few months.

Some 89 per cent of Australians expected an imminent war with Iraq, and 53 per cent said Australia should support the war if it breaks out.

In the US, 73 per cent of people would support their country's involvement in conflict with Iraq.

The poll also revealed that most people in more than two-thirds of the countries surveyed, including 51 per cent in Australia, think US foreign policy has a negative effect on their nation.

In Australia, the survey was conducted by Roy Morgan late last month.

 

[Waitone]

Once again the fallacy of policy by poll.

One interesting study I've yet to see is a correlation study between poll results and the percentage of the total population which is Islamic. I also think that if organizations are going to produce then publish the results of a poll, they really need to lay out the demographics of the sample. Specifically what percentage of the sample was Islamic.

Why do I say it? I did a quick study of what percentage of the total population is islamic in 4 countries.


Muslin population in France 1998, 57 million total, 4.0 million Muslim ==7% of total http://www.adherents.com/adhloc/Wh_104.html

Muslim population in Germany 1998, 80 million total, 2.5 million Muslim == 3% total http://www.adherents.com/adhloc/Wh_113.html

Muslim population in Russia 1998, 13 million total, 65 million Muslim == 9% total http://www.adherents.com/adhloc/Wh_288.html

Muslim population in UK 1998, 58 million total, 1.4 million Muslims==2.4% http://www.adherents.com/adhloc/Wh_335.html

I ain't no statistician, but I can help but think these kinds of numbers will affect state policy as well as poll results.

 

[Tamara]

Should they publish the percent that are Jewish, too? I mean, they'd likely vote the other way, right? Maybe the percentage of people that were drunk when they answered would be good to know, also, since they'd be more likely to make belligerent responses...

 

[NewShooter78]

Well IIRC, don't they just pull numbers out of phone directories for these polls? Every poll I've done on the phone, no one has asked me anything related to demographics. Then it wouldn't be as blind, and people probably wouldn't answer if they were being asked personal info instead of just opinion.