Poll: Nearly two-thirds of Americans say Afghan war isn’t worth fighting

According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans now say the war in Afghanistan is no longer worth fighting, the highest proportion yet opposed to the conflict.

From the Washington Post:

The finding signals a growing challenge for President Obama as he decides how quickly to pull U.S. forces from the country beginning this summer. After nearly a decade of conflict, political opposition to the battle breaks sharply along partisan lines, with only 19 percent of Democratic respondents and half of Republicans surveyed saying the war continues to be worth fighting.

Nearly three-quarters of Americans say Obama should withdraw a “substantial number” of combat troops from Afghanistan this summer, the deadline he set to begin pulling out some forces. Only 39 percent of respondents, however, say they expect him to withdraw large numbers.

The poll was conducted by telephone March 10 to 13, 2011, among a random national sample of 1,005 adults, including users of both conventional and cellular phones.