Seventy-five years ago, in a Âé¶¹´«Ã½ poll conducted days after Japan's infamous attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, 97% of Americans said they approved of Congress formally declaring war on Japan. Just 2% disapproved.
| Dec. 12-17, 1941 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Approve | 97 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disapprove | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No opinion | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Âé¶¹´«Ã½ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The same poll found a bare majority of U.S. adults, 51%, predicting the war against Japan would be a long one while 36% thought it would be short and the rest unsure. Most Americans -- 65% -- foresaw that it would be difficult. A quarter thought it would be easy and 9% were unsure.
Even before the Pearl Harbor reaction poll was finished, George Âé¶¹´«Ã½ noted in a special Dec. 12, 1941, news release that "although the particular time and place of the outbreak of hostilities came as a surprise, war with Japan was not unexpected by the public." In late November, 52% of Americans had told Âé¶¹´«Ã½ pollsters the U.S. would be at war with Japan "sometime in the near future."
Âé¶¹´«Ã½ also gave the American public credit for taking a "realistic attitude on Japanese-American relations," saying "the public has consistently during the past two years favored stronger measures against Japan than any put into effect previous to the summer of 1941." He noted:
Ever since July of this year, a majority of voters have been in favor of taking definite steps to curb Japanese expansion even if it meant risking war. This sentiment increased sharply when the Japanese invaded Indo-China in July. From this moment Institute surveys found two-thirds or more of the American people willing to take the risk of war in order to top Japan from becoming more powerful.
Still, in the immediate post-Pearl Harbor poll, 84% of Americans agreed with the proposition that President Franklin D. Roosevelt "did everything he should have to prevent war with Japan."
Read Âé¶¹´«Ã½'s original review of public opinion in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor.
These data can be found in .
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