Understanding Support for the War in Iraq during the Bush Years: Differences in Civilian and Military Opinion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2374-7781.2013.34.0.47-61Abstract
We examine relationships between military affiliation and support for the war in Iraq and support for President Bush in five southern states chosen because of their support of Republican presidents and concentration of military families. Using public opinion data, we disentangle the effects of race, military affiliation, age, and ideology on support for President Bush and his prosecution of the war. Of note are differences between civilians and military-affiliated respondents in support for the Iraq War. Incongruence is evident about the direction of the war effort between those who fought the war—members of the military—and those who managed most of the war—President Bush and his administration.References
Bachman, Jerald G., Peter Freedman-Doan, David R. Segal, and Patrick M. O'Malley. 2000. Distinctive Military Attitudes among U.S. Enlistees, 1976-1997: Self-Selection versus Socialization. Armed Forces and Society 26(Summer):561-585. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0095327X0002600404
Berinsky, Adam J. 2007. Assuming the Costs of War: Events, Elites, and American Public Support for Military Conflict. Journal of Politics 69:975-997. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2007.00602.x
Berinsky, Adam J., and James N. Druckman. 2007. Public Opinion Research and Support for the Iraq War. Public Opinion Quarterly 71(Spring):126-141. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfl049
Boettcher, William A., and Michael D. Cobb. 2006. Echoes of Vietnam? Casualty Framing and Public Perceptions of Success and Failure in Iraq. Journal of Conflict Resolution 50(December):831-854. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022002706293665
Campbell, Donald T., and Thelma H. McCormack. 1957. Military Experience and Attitudes toward Authority. American Journal of Sociology 62(March):482-490. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/222078
Cohen, Bernard C. 1966. The Military Policy Public. Public Opinion Quarterly 30(Summer): 200-211. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/267400
Dawes, Roy A., and A. Hunter Bacot. 2008. A Dynamic Assessment of Public versus Military Support for the War in Iraq: Evidence from Five Southern States. Paper prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the Western Political Science Association. San Diego. March.
Eichenberg, Richard C., Richard J. Stoll, and Matthew Lebo. 2006. War President: The Approval Ratings of George W. Bush. Journal of Conflict Resolution 50(December): 783-808. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022002706293671
Feaver, Peter D., and Christopher Gelpi. 2004. Choosing Your Battles: American Civil- Military Relations and the Use of Force. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Fiore, Faye, 2007. Bush Loses Ground with Military Families. Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/timespoll/la-na-militpoll7dec07,0,4843202. story?coll=la-home-center, December 11.
French, Elizabeth G., and Raymond R. Ernest. 1955. The Relationship between Authoritarianism and Acceptance of Military Ideology. Journal of Personality 24(December): 181-191.
Gaines, Brian J., James H. Kuklinski, Paul J. Quirk, Buddy Peyton, and Jay Verkuilen. 2007. Same Facts, Different Interpretations: Partisan Motivation and Opinion on Iraq. Journal of Politics 69(November):957-974. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2007.00601.x
Gelpi, Christopher, and Peter D. Feaver. 2002. Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick? Veterans in the Political Elite and the American Use of Force. American Political Science Review 96(December):779-793. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S000305540200045X
Gelpi, Christopher. 2006. The Cost of War: How Many Casualties Will Americans Tolerate? Foreign Affairs 85(1):139-144. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/20031850
Gelpi, Christopher, Jason Reifler, and Peter D. Feaver. 2007. Iraq the Vote: Retrospective and Prospective Foreign Policy Judgements on Candidate Choice and Casualty Tolerance. Political Behavior 29:151-174. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11109-007-9029-6
Goertzel, T., and A. Hengst. 1971. The Military Socialization of University Students. Social Problems 19:258-267. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/799489 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/sp.1971.19.2.03a00100
Hartley, Thomas, and Bruce Russett. 1992. Public Opinion and the Common Defense: Who Governs Military Spending in the United States? American Political Science Review 86(December):905-915. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1964343
Hodieme, Robert. 2006. Down on the War, Military Times, http://www.militarycity.com/ polls/2006_main.php, January 26, 2007.
Huntington, Samuel P. 1957. The Soldier and the State: The Theory of Politics and Civil-Military Relations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP). 2006. Citizenship and Service: Political and Social Attitudes of Active-Duty Army and Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy. West Point/Columbia University (Spring) accessed at http://www.iserp.columbia.edu/news/articles/citizenship.html.
Janowitz, Morris. 1960. The Professional Soldier: A Social and Political Portrait. New York: Free Press.
Janowitz, Morris, and Roger W. Little. 1965. Sociology and the Military Establishment. New York: Russell Sage.
Jennings, M. Kent, and Gregory B. Markus. 1977. The Effect of Military Service on Political Attitudes: A Panel Study. American Political Science Review 71(March): 131-147. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1956958 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003055400259340
Jentleson, Bruce W. 1992. The Pretty Prudent Public: Post Post-Vietnam American Opinion on the use of American Military Force. International Studies Quarterly 36(March):49-73. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2600916
Karol, David, and Edward Miguel. 2007. The Electoral Cost of War: Iraq Casualties and the 2004 Presidential Election. Journal of Politics 69(August):639-648. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2007.00564.x
Kriner, Douglas, and Francis Shen. 2009. Limited War and American Political Engagement. Journal of Politics 71: 1514-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022381609990090
Mueller, John. 1973. War, Presidents, and Public Opinion. New York: Wiley.
Mueller, John. 2005. The Iraq Syndrome. Foreign Affairs 84(6):44-54. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/20031775
Norpoth, Helmut, and Andrew H. Sidman. 2007. Mission Accomplished: The Wartime Election of 2004. Political Behavior 29:175-195. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11109-007-9036-7
Parker, Suzanne. 1995. Toward an Understanding of 'Rally' Effects: Public Opinion in the Persian Gulf War. Public Opinion Quarterly 59(Winter):526-546. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/269492
Roghmann, Klaus, and Wolfgang Sodeur. 1972. The Impact of Military Service on Authoritarian Attitudes: Evidence from West Germany. American Journal of Sociology 78(September):418-433. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/225332
Schreiber, E.M. 1979. Enduring Effects of Military Service? Opinion Differences between U.S. Veterans and Nonveterans. Social Forces 57(March):824-839. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sf/57.3.824 http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2577356
Voeten, Erik, and Paul R. Brewer. 2006. Public Opinion, The War in Iraq, and Presidential Accountability. Journal of Conflict Resolution 50(October):809-830. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022002706291054
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with American Review of Politics agree to the following terms:
The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
Attribution: other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
Non-Commercial: the materials may not be used for commercial purposes;
Share Alike: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a pre-publication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access). Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
The Author represents and warrants that:
the Work is the Author’s original work;
the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
the Work has not previously been published;
the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.