Voters think Obama is doing a terrible job handling the deteriorating situation in Iraq — but they're at least somewhat sympathetic to how he got stuck in the mess in the first place.
By nearly a 2-1 margin — 51 percent to 27 percent —voters blame George W. Bush and not Obama for the situation in Iraq, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. At the same time, 58 percent think Obama made the right choice in pulling U.S. troops from Iraq at the end of 2011.
That said, a scant 37 percent approve of the president's overall approach to Iraq, down from a high of 61 percent three years ago.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.