London: A day after Britain announced deployment of 30,000 troops to the Gulf for a
possible war on Iraq, an opinion poll on January 21 showed that a majority of British
people are against the military action.
In fact the support among the voters for military action against Baghdad slumped six
points in the last month to its lowest level while this month's Guardian/ICM survey
showed that outright opposition to the war has risen to 47 per cent, the highest
level on any poll since August 2002.
In a clear message to Prime Minister Tony Blair, the survey results showed that an
overwhelming 81 per cent of voters now agree with International Development Secretary
Clare Short that a fresh United Nations mandate is essential before a military attack
is launched on Saddam Hussein.
Even two-thirds of those who support military action say they believe a fresh UN
mandate is necessary, and only 10 per cent of those polled believe that the war
should start regardless of whether or not it has explicit new backing from the UN
Security Council.
ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,002 adults aged 18 and over by telephone from
January 17 to 19, 2003. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results
have been weighted to the profile of all adults.
The results of the tracker question on an Iraq war indicated that opposition to a war
has risen steadily from 37 per cent in October to 47 per cent now. Over the same
period
support for military action has fallen from a peak of 42 per cent to only 30 per cent
now.
PTI
