The majority of Americans believe that the United States made the right decision in getting involved in World Wars I and II, according to a new survey.
The survey from The Economist/YouGov, published Wednesday, found that 70 percent of respondents said the U.S. was right to send troops to fight in World War II. Twenty percent were not sure, and 10 percent said that the U.S. made a mistake. 1 percent separated respondents’ opinions of U.S. involvement in World War II by party affiliation, with 9 percent of Republicans and 8 percent of Democrats saying it was a mistake.
The poll comes as President Biden visits Normandy, France, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion that marked a turning point for the Allies in World War II. He also met with veterans on Thursday who served in the invasion, telling them that they “saved the world.”
The survey also found that Americans had favorable views of the U.S.’s involvement in World War I, with 65 percent saying it was the correct choice to get involved in the war. Twenty-three percent said they were not sure if it was right and 12 percent said it was a mistake. Only 1 percent separated respondents’ opinions by party affiliation, with 10 percent of Republicans and 11 percent of Democrats saying the U.S. made a mistake sending troops to fight in World War I.
While large percentages of Americans surveyed supported the U.S. choices to join the World Wars, many disagree with the nation’s decision to get involved in the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
More than half of respondents said getting involved in the Vietnam war was a mistake, 47 percent said the same of the Iraq war and 43 percent said the same of the war in Afghanistan.
These answers varied along party lines, with 47 percent of Republicans saying the Vietnam war was a mistake, compared to 59 percent of Democrats. Thirty-eight percent of Republicans said U.S. involvement in the Iraq war was a mistake, compared to 55 percent of Democrats. Thirty-seven percent of Republicans said it was a mistake for the U.S. to send troops to fight in the Afghanistan war, compared to 47 percent of Democrats.
The poll was conducted among 1,766 U.S. adult citizens from June 2-4 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
