Fewer Know Number of US Deaths in Iraq

WASHINGTON — Fewer people know how many U.S. troops have died in the war in Iraq, even as public attention to the conflict has gradually diminished, a poll showed Wednesday.

Only 28 percent correctly said that about 4,000 Americans have died in the war, according to a survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

That's down from last August, when 54 percent gave the accurate casualty figure, which was about 3,500 dead at the time. In previous Pew surveys dating to 2004, about half have correctly given the rough figure for the approximate number of deaths at the time.

In the new poll, around a third said about 3,000 U.S. troops have died while about one in 10 said 2,000 deaths. Fewer overestimated the number of casualties: about a quarter put the figure close to 5,000.

Exit polls of voters in presidential primaries and many national surveys have shown the economy has displaced the war in recent weeks as the public's choice as the nation's top problem.

Iraq was the most avidly followed news story for most of the first half of 2007, but it has not been the most closely watched story in any week since mid-October, according to a Pew survey of people's interest in the news. The portion of news stories on the war has dropped in recent months as well, according to a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a nonpartisan group that evaluates news coverage.

The Pew poll was conducted from Feb. 28-March 2 and involved telephone interviews with 1,003 adults. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Comments

[angeranddespair]

11:50 AM on 03/13/2008

I huge percentage don't know, don't care or think it is OK to Invade and Occupy a Country for George Bush's LIES, upon LIES, upon LIES, upon LIES, upon LIES. They were told to go out and shop to stimulate the economy that was their call to sacrifice.

[lochnessmonster]

10:21 AM on 03/13/2008

I know how many...TOO MANY!

[betz55]

09:55 AM on 03/13/2008

All the media has to do it show the caskets being unloaded from the army cargo planes day after day after day after day. What was that? Oh yea, Bush ordered, ORDERED, the media not to show ANYTHING like this, and like the dogs they are they have gone along with him. It is absolutely shameful what the media does and says today about Iraq.

[coonce]

09:25 AM on 03/13/2008

Unfortunately the Bush administration and the Republican Party has been able to brainwash the Media once again - just as they did before the war in Iraq. They got them believeing the War has settled down over there that violence has dropped dramatically -- so no need to report from there.

When truth be told, we lost 12 soldiers just in 3 days, and thousands of Iraqis are dying still. Not one general is willing to say that things WON'T go back to the way they were.

[CARTERJ]

09:17 AM on 03/13/2008

Up until a few months ago, the newspapers, CNN, and the major networks kept a running tally of the dead and wounded every day. Now, only PBS does it. Why is that? I think the MSM is aware that the public is losing interest in the war, so they don't need to be told (bad for ratings and all that). Why are they abandoning their journalistic mission in favor of telling the public what it wants to know, instead of giving them the information they need? This is infuriating. THAT is why people are so misinformed.

[UncleJimbo]

07:37 AM on 03/13/2008

The total is actually much higher! If you die after being flown out of the "war zone" you don't count! If you commit suicide,you don't count! If you die from other causes,you don't count! The total they use is in country combat deaths only!

[wolf58]

08:09 AM on 03/13/2008

you are wrong on that go to this site which list all service members deaths and it goes with the current numbers.

http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx

[UncleJimbo]

02:30 PM on 03/13/2008

The site is using DoD figures and you believe them? Do they count the 145 military members who they list as having died from self-inflicted wounds in the total? And of course they do not count civilian contractor deaths or wounded!

[gcallaghan]

07:12 AM on 03/13/2008

Republicans = Military Failure

[Macready]

07:04 AM on 03/13/2008

that is no big surprise . . .they have been sheltered from the facts by the MSM . . .

[mamacat]

03:42 AM on 03/13/2008

The "surge" worked in Vietnam, too. Except that eventually we got tired of paying for it with dead, injured, and money we didn't have. Bush's war in Iraq has far fewer casualties, but it is contributing to the ruin of our economy. Some people say that there will be millions of Iraqi casualties if we pull out, but they are the same people who claimed there were WMDs and al Qaeda in Iraq. They were half right.......since 2004, there is "al Qaeda-in-Iraq".

[researcher]

01:45 AM on 03/13/2008

i am surprised most americans even knew there was a war in iraq. during the nam war most amerians did not even know who the viet cong were.

hey americans are not the smartest folks on the planet. (ie ohio) next time ask them where the local wal mart is. bet you get a better number.

we follow in the steps of rome. w hen the middle class went rome went.

[HatingTheGame]

01:15 AM on 03/13/2008

"Survey: Most Americans Underestimate US Deaths In Iraq"

Yeah, and most Americans overestimate their own IQs -- so it all balances out in the end.

We're just a bunch of militant, self-absorbed dumbfucks. Some of us are adorable, but mostly we're dumbfucks. That's why gOd gave us the world to rule, and we blow it.

[BilCon]

11:21 PM on 03/12/2008

Here is my question. One could state that just under half of people polled underestimated the deaths of US Millitary Personel in Iraq, as this article did. Why did the article not state that 53% of those polled correctly answered or overestimated the troop deaths in Iraq? Could it not have been said that around 86% of respondants knew within 1,000 the number of military casualties?
Why does it matter whether or not the public knows the number? What matters is that the command knows the number and does its best to keep it to a minimum. What matters more is that we as a nation respect the service of those who serve our country, whether we agree with the mission or not. it is not the troops who make those decisions, after all; it is the decision of the generals, and ultimately the CIC.

[seg78]

09:05 AM on 03/13/2008

Yeah, what's it matter how many have died? You're right, best to just not think about it. Just smile and put a yellow "support the troops" sticker on your car. Let the good old CIC worry about it. Why trouble our pretty little minds wondering who will "be the last man to die for a mistake?"

[Lis]

10:05 PM on 03/12/2008

I know exactly how many of our troops have died in Iraq so far.

Today is March 12, 2008. If, God forbid, 13 more soldiers die, we will reach 4,000.

I'm an "Army Aunt", with a 20-year-old nephew serving in Iraq...........and I keep count.

[HatingTheGame]

01:12 AM on 03/13/2008

Yes, but do you vote? And do you convince your friends to vote to end this tragedy? If so, good bless you. If not, stop counting the dead, and start counting the living who can vote to end this criminal enterprise.

Patriotism has a price. Unfortunately, for most Americans, its our soul.

[militaryfamily]

01:56 AM on 03/13/2008

I count and I vote and I contribute to political campaigns and veterans organizations. I also send boxes to the troops. I wear a pin everyday that says "A piece of my heart is in Iraq" and no one ever asks me about it. Most tell me that they don't watch because it is too depressing. And the sad part is that "they vote, too".

[Lis]

08:02 AM on 03/13/2008

Yes, I most certainly DO vote. Thanks to this war (and a host of other things), I vote Democrat now.

[MACS]

08:53 PM on 03/12/2008

;
2374 Days since 911 and bush has YET to find Osamma. What is taking so lomg???
At least President William Jefferson Clinton took a shot with cruise missiles.
The best bush has done is look under his desk.
.

[imusintheevening]

08:30 PM on 03/12/2008

Huffpo - if you can't vet the comments in a reasonable number of seconds, then we can't have interactive discussion. Get it together before we all leave for greener pastures! Flags are for some level of user policing, don't let O'Reilly ruin your site.