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Sheep

A stunning new poll from PIPA and Knowledge Networks lays out just how widespread misperceptions about the war with Iraq have been, and how likely those misperceptions were to have shaped public support for the war.

After the State of the Union, 68% of Americans believed there to be a connection between Iraq and September 11. 22% still believe this, and 57% (wrongly) believe the U.S. has found clear evidence of an Iraq/al-Qaeda connection. These numbers are down from the Washington Post poll last month showing 59% belieiving it "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that Iraq had a role in September 11. I'd imagine the negative attention that poll got changed a few minds.

1 in 5 Americans still believe Iraq used chemical weapons in the most recent war, and 22% believe we have found conclusive evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

Here's the kicker, and why the Bush administration's misdirection on the Iraq-September 11 connection is important.

The most recent poll report also includes a poll taken in February of this year, before we went to war. In that poll 58% of Americans said they supported war with Iraq if it could be shown that Saddam Hussein had a part in the September 11 attacks. When asked if they'd support a war if it could be proven that Iraq had given substantial support to al-Qaeda, but wasn't involved in September 11, that number dropped to 37%.

A separate poll by Investors Business Daily and the "Christian Science Monitor asked the 70% of Americans who supported the war to name their top reasons. 80% of them cited "Iraq's connections with groups like al-Qaeda."...

...Among those who mistakenly believe we've found WMDs, support for the war remains high -- 74%. Among those who know we haven't, support drops to 42%. Among those who believe we've found evidence linking Iraq to al-Qaeda, support for the war currently stands at 67%. Among those who know we haven't, support drops to 29%.

The poll's sponsors then pull off a nifty trick. They measure support for the war among those who have one, two, or three or more misperceptions about WMDs, September 11 or al-Qaeda connections, or world support for the war.

Not surprisingly, those who know all of the facts still support the Iraq war at only a 23% clip. Those with one misperception support it at 52%. Two at 78%. And three or more at 86%....