Public Opinion
Public support for the war decreased as the war raged on throughout the sixties and beginning part of the 1970s.
William L. Lunch and Peter W. Sperlich collected public opinion data measuring support for the war from 1965–1971. Support for the war was measured by a negative response to the question: "In view of developments since we entered the fighting in Vietnam, do you think the U.S. made a mistake sending troops to fight in Vietnam?" They found the following results.
| Month | Percentage who agreed with war |
|---|---|
| August 1965 | 52% |
| March 1966 | 59% |
| May 1966 | 49% |
| September 1966 | 48% |
| November 1966 | 51% |
| February 1967 | 52% |
| May 1967 | 50% |
| July 1967 | 48% |
| October 1967 | 44% |
| December 1967 | 48% |
| February 1968 | 42% |
| March 1968 | 41% |
| April 1968 | 40% |
| August 1968 | 35% |
| October 1968 | 37% |
| February 1969 | 39% |
| October 1969 | 32% |
| January 1970 | 33% |
| April 1970 | 34% |
| May 1970 | 36% |
| January 1971 | 31% |
| May 1971 | 28% |
After May 1971 Gallup stopped asking this question.
Read more about this topic: Opposition To The U.S. Involvement In The Vietnam War
Famous quotes containing the words public and/or opinion:
“The poorest children in a community now find the beneficent kindergarten open to them from the age of two-and-a-half to six years. Too young heretofore to be eligible to any public school, they have acquired in their babyhood the vicious tendencies of their own depraved neighborhoods; and to their environment at that tender age had been due the loss of decency and self-respect that no after example of education has been able to restore to them.”
—Virginia Thrall Smith (1836–1903)
“The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)