Canadians say 'troops out' - again

While one hesitates to cite an online poll, considering there are plenty of telephonic ones to cite, Angus Reid has this:

Q: Do you agree or disagree with the decision to extend Canada’s mission in Afghanistan until the end of 2011?

	Jul. 2008	May 2008	Mar. 2008
Agree	36%	41%	37%
Disagree	58%	54%	58%
Not sure	6%	6%	5%

Source: Angus Reid Strategies
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,004 Canadian adults, conducted on Jul. 2 and Jul. 3, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.

Other poll highlights:

53% say Canadian mission in Afghanistan is a war mission
28% believe the Harper government has effectively explained the mission in Afghanistan
73% think Canada is shouldering too much of the burden of NATO’s mission in Afghanistan
59% claim the Afghan people are clearly benefiting from Canadian efforts in their country
35% would agree with the Canadian government actively negotiating with the Taliban (link)

The CBC exhibits some healthy skepticism about the poll here.

The poll results aren't that surprising. For instance, below we see, courtesy of the Afghanistan Conflict Monitor, a good graphic depicting Canadian opinion on the war. Drawing on data from the Canadian Strategic Council, the graph shows that opinion has been clearly opposed to the war since shortly after Canadian troops arrived in Kandahar in January 2006. (See here for more.)