support for the vietnam war

I was going through some old magazines in the basement and came across the results from Gallup polls in response to the question

In view of the developments since we entered the fighting in Vietnam, do you think the U. S. made a mistake sending troops to fight in Vietnam?

An answer of "no" was assumed to be support for the War... it is interesting for comparisons if we are going to be involved in Iraq and Afghanistan for extended periods. The question was asked of three age groups. The results may test some of your assumptions.

Support for the Vietnam War by Age

	Under 30	30-49	Over 49
May 1965	61	59	43
August 1965	76	64	51
November 1965	75	68	57
March 1966	71	63	48
May 1966	62	54	39
September 1966	53	56	39
November 1966	66	55	41
May 1967	60	53	42
July 1967	62	52	37
October 1967	50	50	35
February 1968	51	44	36
March 1968	50	46	35
April 1968	54	44	31
August 1968	45	39	27
October 1968	52	41	26
February 1969	47	43	31
September 1969	36	37	25
January 1970	41	37	25
March 1970	48	41	26
April 1970	43	40	25
January 1971	41	38	20
May 1971	34	30	23

A few event should be noted:

April 1965 ... Johnson increases troop strength to 100,000

January 31, 1968 ... Tet Offensive begins

March 16, 1968 ... My Lai Massacre.

March 31, 1968 ... Johnson withdraws the the Presidential race

March, 1969 ... Nixon begins secret bombing of Cambodia and North Vietnam

April, 1970 ... US troops invade Cambodia

May 4, 1970 ... Kent State Massacre

___

The Gallup organization has a similar question for the Bush-Cheney War. There isn't a nice age breakdown, but the highwater mark for support occurred in May of 2003 at 76%. The last poll (before the revelations of torture) were at about 50%.

Comments

[cody]

this is bullshit