Iraq American Death Count: Public Largely Unaware

A new poll from the Pew Research Center finds a staggering drop in the public awareness about fatalities in Iraq:

Public awareness of the number of American military fatalities in Iraq has declined sharply since last August. Today, just 28% of adults are able to say that approximately 4,000 Americans have died in the Iraq war. As of March 10, the Department of Defense had confirmed the deaths of 3,974 U.S. military personnel in Iraq.

In August 2007, 54% correctly identified the fatality level at that time (about 3,500 deaths). In previous polls going back to the spring of 2004, about half of respondents could correctly estimate the number of U.S. fatalities around the time of the survey.

(Note: the number of U.S. deaths confirmed by the Department of Defense is 3,974. Thirteen U.S. deaths are pending confirmation, for a total of 3,987).

By contrast, 84% of Americans knew that Oprah Winfrey was supporting Sen. Barack Obama for President.

The study also finds that over the same period of time, the media coverage dropped to only 3% of news:

The drop in awareness comes as press attention to the war has waned. According to the News Content Index conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the percentage of news stories devoted to the war has sharply declined since last year, dropping from an average of 15% of the newshole in July to just 3% in February.

Click here to read the entire poll.

Comments

[passport]

The bigger problem than not knowing is not caring, and I fear that is what’s happening. A sizable part of the population has bought into this “endless war” propaganda. Fear is a religion to republicans and can be used to justify anything.
That and the obscene profit Halliburton and the repug war machine is making from cost plus and no bid war profiteer contracts has sealed our fate. We will go down fighting and killing all the way to bankruptcy without any friends in the international community. Does anyone doubt that when it happens the world will give a loud cheer?

[marykins123]

Right next to the casualty count from the Bush/Cheney war should be the article from AP on how Iraq's government will have a budget surplus of $100 BILLION in 2007 AND 2008. The Bush/Cheney war has not only taken so many of our brave (fathers, sons, daughters, mothers), injured over 30,000 (brain damaged, PTSD, arm/legs/eyes lost), overcrowded the VA's across this country for decades, but drained our National Treasury ($12 BILLION a month) while our own infrastructure goes to hell. There sits Iraq on a surplus and what's the rationale on WHY they can't use their own $$$s to rebuild? The government is too corrupt ! They don't have the capacity to allocate the money without it being wasted or pocketed by corrupt officials.
Bring our military home and stop this senseless loss

[rachaelisacancer]

WTF. Do you have a link to the AP article?

[white mende man]

its true i read about it yesterday, Iraq is sitting on a budget suplus while we pawn our grandchildren to china.

[ConnectTheDots]

Exactly.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcWJu9bbzrJZ7uNHjvMn0BuTGqHQD8VBCOK00

[EinChicago]

That is insane. If Iraq has a surplus of almost 10 billion a month, they should be paying for rebuilding not us.; There should be war crimes when this is over; not for any soldiers but for the politicians. .

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Right on.

[margotb822]

Of course, this isn't surprising considering most Americans feel that the election is about style more than substance.

NBC/WSJ poll: That points in Democrat’s favor, but McCain matches up well

By Mark Murray Deputy political director
NBC News updated 6:58 p.m, Wed., March. 12, 2008


WASHINGTON - Are you better off now than you were four years ago?

This has become a fundamental question in presidential elections. And for the first time since 1992, a plurality of voters heading into November’s election answer that question with a resounding no, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Forty-three percent say that they and their families are worse off, compared with 34 percent who say they’re better off; 21 percent respond that their status is the same. By contrast, strong pluralities or majorities answered that they were better off before entering the general elections in 1996, 2000 and 2004 — when, with the exception of the extremely close 2000 race, the incumbent party held onto the presidency.

Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with GOP pollster Bill McInturff, suggests that these new numbers are more good news for a Democratic Party trying to take back the White House. “The compass points due north for the party of change.”

But after more than 40 nominating contests, that party is still undecided about the candidate it will place on the top of the ticket — Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama. In the poll, Clinton has a four-point national lead over Obama, 47 percent to 43 percent.

Yet that is the survey’s closest margin between the two Democratic presidential candidates. In January’s NBC/Journal poll, which was conducted after Clinton’s victories in New Hampshire and Nevada, she led Obama 53 percent to 37 percent.

Where has Obama made up ground? McInturff point outs that the Illinois senator is now winning among men and, by a considerable margin, African Americans. In December, Clinton was leading among both groups.

Although Clinton is ahead in this poll, Obama is viewed among Democrats — by 48 percent to 38 percent — as the candidate having a better chance of defeating Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee.

But the poll shows that Clinton and Obama would run equally close contests against the Arizona Republican. In a hypothetical matchup, Obama leads McCain by three points, 47-44 percent, which is within the survey’s margin of error. Clinton, meanwhile, leads McCain by a similar margin, 47-45 percent.

“Statistically, there is no difference between how Obama runs against McCain or Clinton runs against McCain,” Hart says. “The difference is that Hillary … runs stronger with the Democratic base, and that Barack Obama reaches into a little bit broader group of voters,” such as independents.

Both matchups against McCain, however, are much closer than the poll’s generic ballot result, in which a Democrat beats a Republican 50-37 percent. This all suggests that, despite the advantages Democrats have going into the fall election, a presidential election against McCain would be an extremely competitive contest.

And it would be a contest in which style might trump substance. When asked which consideration is more important — ideas and policies for the future or leadership style and trustworthiness — 48 percent picked leadership style and trustworthiness, while just 32 percent chose ideas and policies.

The poll also finds that there is concern among Democrats that if the Clinton-Obama race continues through June, it could hurt the party. In it, 38 percent say that an extended nominating battle would be bad for the Democratic Party, versus 25 percent who see it as a good thing.

One of the survey’s more striking findings is the diminished standing of former President Bill Clinton, whom some have seen as campaigning too aggressively for his wife — and against Obama.

More respondents in the poll view him in a negative light (45 percent) than in a positive one (42 percent). It’s a marked change from a year ago, when Clinton’s positive rating (48 percent) was higher than his negative score (35 percent).

In particular, Clinton’s support among African Americans and Obama supporters has eroded.

The NBC/Journal poll was conducted March 7-10 of 1,012 registered voters, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.

Mark Murray covers politics for NBC News.

© 2008 MSNBC Interactive
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23596304/


www.serveoutloud.blogspot.com

[emsique]

And the weather forecast for yesterday was for rain and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Just stick to the issues and the character and wait until the elections are over.

[cilcsster]

...and how many of those Americans killed were in ANY WAY related to members of congress or in high positions in the American government?

[Superbus]

War against Islamic extremists, of which Iraq and Afghanistan are our major battlefields right now, is the single most important issue in this campaign, no matter which side of the argument for or against the war you take.

[Moshe]

This is incredibly sad. It seems most people have already moved on.

I follow this regularly and it's heart breaking, because I know that every casulty is not just a number, it was the unnecessary death of the son/daughter; father/mother; husband/wife of real people. And the suffering never ends until all the survivors are gone also. When you lose a child, there is never a single day that goes by without feeling the heart breaking pain of that lose, the constant longing for their lost opportunities and what could have been for them.

I haven't forgotten our soldiers in Iraq, and I never will. And I won't stop doing all I can to get all of our children home a.s.a.p. We need everyone's efforts though. This war is making some people filthy rich, and they won't give that up without a fight.

We can't forget our wounded either, with shattered bodies, minds, and spirits. They are going to need everyone's help when they come home.

Clearly, a strong defense is sometimes necessary, but a war of choice is always evil because it is choosing to inflict death and pain on other humans beings unnecessarily.

Evil can't be allowed to continue.

[Pepper14]

Since it is the top story on this site you know. When something goes on for a long time people just move on with their lives. With most people Iraq just isn't the driving force anymore. People have a short memory and attention span. This might not be the way it should be but it is the reality.

[wisechild]

Actually, I am very aware of the count because I see it every day on cable TV. I watch 'This week with George Stephanopolous" every Sunday and I see the names and ages and home towns of every soldier who died that week.

I am really sad but feel it's the least I can do to remember this war and the cost.

Anyone has access to the same information I do and if Americans really cared and wanted to know they could seek out the same.

CNN has this week at war and Keith O always ends with how many days since 'Mission Accomplished'

We need to be more vigilant if we care.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Many Americans are coming to realize the depth of their own shame in pervasive silence. Aversion is kicking in. Note how the percentage getting the number correct is plummeting. It's not that Americans are unaware -- it's that they're DECREASINGLY aware.

[dattexas]

disgusting

[4peace]

Is the public aware of the the countless dead and tortured Iraqis, the homeless, displaced, unemployed, tramatized Iraqis, and total destruction of the infrastructure of Iraq,? This war is not only about the dead Americans, its about the people of a nation that have had their lives ruined forever. The Iraqis did not volunteer for this, the Americans did. Is this what bush was talking about when he said mission accomplished?

[VOTER]

Our deceased brave soldiers will get "ATTENTION," from the Main Street Media and our

politicians, when their number grows to 4,000 dead and not a day sooner. SHAMEFUL!

: - (

[msfiskvletterman]

3/13/08
2:41pm
Alexandria, VA

Well, I'm old so I can remember the news coverage of the Vietnam War. There wasn't full coverage, but it was a lot better than it is now. What happened?

[slow2]

E.L. Doctorow wrote a piece some years ago called "The Unfeeling President.­"

This is a profound statement about Bush and his callous and cruel war-mongering.

The piece can be found on commondreams.org and this is the link.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0920-13.htm

Read this to renew your interest in the dead that this administration and we are responsible for causing.

[BenjitheWolfdog]

Sadly, there seems to be a distinct increase in violent attacks in Iraq over the last few weeks. I'm afraid that we are now going to see the insurgency abandoning their self imposed restraint on bombings and that US troops are going to again be the main targets for these attacks.

[mfsomom]

we're approaching another tragic milestone.­..the 4,000th casualty. Whose son, daughter, husband, wife, mother, father or neighbor will it be? How could we let this come to be? What a shameful legacy. We may not see the flag draped coffins taken off airplanes in the dark of night, but these fallen warriors are the life blood of every thing that is good about who we are, and we cannot afford their reckless and careless loss. How could we let 5 years pass and hold no one accountable for this travesty? That our troops, and our nation continue to be held prisoners of war to a spineless congress, and a defiant and arrogant president is unconscionable and unforgivable. Our Army and our treasury are both broken. The price we are paying is incalculable by any measure. That our economy is in peril is not an unfortunate coincidence. This war is bleeding our nation in every way conceivable. My hope is that in November we will have the courage and collective will to steer ourselves back on course. It's up to us. We must be vigilant and proactive. The stakes could not be greater.