Obama’s Afghan war speech hasn’t done much to sway opinion, poll finds

President Obama spoke to the nation last week about his policy on the Afghanistan war, but his words seem to have done little to change public opinion, according to a poll released Monday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Washington Post.

In his speech, Obama announced that he was bringing 5,000 troops out of Afghanistan next month and 5,000 more by the end of the year. Another 23,000 troops are scheduled to be withdrawn in 2012, leaving about 68,000 American troops in Afghanistan until 2014.

According to the poll, 44% said they thought Obama would withdraw troops at about the right pace, compared with the 50% who answered the same way at the end of February. About 29% in the current survey said they believed Obama would not withdraw troops quickly enough, and 14% said the president would withdraw troops too quickly. That compares with 30% to 12%, respectively, in the earlier survey.

A majority of Democrats, 66%, and 40% of those calling themselves independents said the president was moving at about the right speed.

Republicans were sharply divided, reflecting the split within the GOP between its national security wing, which favors a robust use of U.S. troops abroad, and the growing neo-isolationists, who question the role of the country as an international policeman. There are candidates representing both viewpoints among the current crop of GOP presidential contenders.

About 32% of Republicans in the survey said Obama will not remove U.S. forces quickly enough; 28% said he will remove them too quickly, and 25% said the president was handling the issue about right.

The poll is based on interviews with 1,005 adults from June 23, the day after the president’s speech, to June 26. Overall, the margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. The margin of error, however, rises to as much as plus or minus 7.5 percentage points when broken down by political-party preference.