Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette discusses the much publicized Zogby poll of our troops in Iraq. He points to confusing data and adds several questions that should have been included to get a better read on what the troops really think about Iraq and what they are accomplishing there. Much has been made of this "poll," which Zogby himself interprets to mean that the troops have low morale and no longer support the mission. If fact, he even invokes Vietnam. However as Hugh Hewitt points out, if he really wanted to know about the morale of our troops and whether they thought the mission was worth it, why didn't he just ask the troops in a straightforward manner? The answer to that question is pretty clear to me;
If Zogby asks about morale and whether troops support the mission, he will get an answer and it may not be the one he wants. If he does not ask the questions directly, it allows him great latitude in interpreting the results to fit his agenda, which is to show that the troops no longer support the war and want to come home.
This is agenda polling at it's worst. Also, if you read the questions, you can see that every left-wing agenda question is included, such as are we in Iraq to take over the oil fields. Zogby was hired by a "wealthy anti-war activist" and he and his sponsor wanted to make a splash and affect public opinion. He certainly made a splash. Whether he convinces Americans to cut and run, based on the presumption that our troops no longer support the endeavor, remains to be seen.
One last note, how many times in the coverage of this "poll" have you seen it mentioned that is was paid for by an anti-war activist? Again, the media runs anything that fits their worldview without pointing out conflicts of interest.