Poll: Congress Should Decide

If President Bush persists with his planned troop increase in Iraq, as all signs indicate, he will do so against a strong tide of U.S. public opinion, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows. Democratic leaders in Congress, with support from some Republicans, are pressing for votes on nonbinding resolutions signaling opposition to the president’s policy.

If Congress approves that resolution, the poll shows, 65% of Americans say the president shouldn’t move ahead with his plan. (Some 30% say go ahead.) The poll of 1,007 adults, conducted Jan 17-20, has an error margin of 3.1 percentage points.