Iraqis Very Positive; ABC Poll Finds

A new ABC poll of 1,700 Iraqi's shows that 70% have a positive view of their own situation and two-thirds expect their lives to improve in the next year. Similar percentages indicated support and confidence in the new elections and the new Iraqi constitution.

However, less than half of Iraqis think their country is better off than it was before the war (curious how they asked that question) and two-thirds oppose the presence of U.S. forces.

This apparent contradiction between the very positive view that individual Iraqi's have of their own condition and that of their country and the U.S. is probably partly a result of uncertainty about national events they cannot control. However, the economic indicators for Iraqi citizens have skyrocketed in the last year, certainly a factor in their positive views about their own condition:

• Household incomes have increased 60% in the last eighteen months.
• The % of households with cell phones has grown from 6% to 62% in the last year, along with similar explosions in consumer goods such as satellite TV, air conditioning, etc.