One Third of Americans in Favor of Iraq War. Why?

It is hard to believe, by this time, that anyone is in favor of the war in Iraq. Much attention is given to Bush's low approval numbers. But fully one third of Americans remain in favor of the war. We know they are mostly Republicans (but certainly not all Republicans are for the war), but what else do we know about them?

Janet Elder, in her web column for the New York Times, dug into the most recent NYT/CBS News Poll and found that most of those in favor of the war (some six in ten) linked their position to their belief that the war and terrorism are the same and that the war is the only way to fight terrorism and keep it away from the home front. She discusses this and other reasons in some detail in her most interesting piece:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/us/politics/09web-elder.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Whatever their reasons, it is sobering to think that there are still so many behind the war. One third is not that far from a majority, and a presidential candidate who can really connect the dots between the war and terrorism may just have the votes to win the presidency.