Four years after President Bush declared that “In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed,” a solid majority of the public (59%) says that the continuing military effort in Iraq is not going well and, for the first time, a majority of the public (51%) expresses the view that the United States will probably fail, or definitely fail, in establishing a stable democratic government in Iraq; 42% believe the U.S. will probably or definitely succeed. Since August, the number of Americans who say the U.S. will fail in establishing a stable democratic government has increased by 10 points (from 41% to 51%). Significantly fewer people (38%) now think things in Iraq are going very or fairly well than did so a year ago (47% in April 2006). Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.