Voters Support Withdrawing Troops from Afghanistan and Providing Afghans With Special Immigrant Visas
By Devi Ruia
President Biden announced in April that he would be withdrawing troops from Afghanistan by September 11th in order to put an end to the 20 year war fought in the country. In recent weeks, as we approach this deadline, Taliban forces have captured cities and taken control of the capital.
New polling from Data for Progress shows that voters still support President Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, even after learning that Taliban fighters have captured these cities. Voters support the decision to withdraw by a 14-point margin, including Democrats by a 51-point margin, Independents by a 13-point margin, and nearly a third of Republicans.
As a result of Taliban fighters capturing these cities, voters support speeding up the process of providing Afghans who have worked with American forces, like interpreters, with special immigrant visas to come to the United States. Voters support this proposal by a 25-point margin, including Democrats by a 40-point margin, Independents by a 27-point margin, and Republicans by a 4-point margin.
President Biden should feel confident in his decision to withdraw U.S forces from Afghanistan. Still, as we continue to undertake this withdrawal process, the president must emphasize taking further action to protect and aid Afghan citizens, especially ones that have worked with U.S forces, by providing them expedited visas to come to the United States.
Read the full poll and methodology here.
Devi Ruia (@DeviRuia) is a press assistant at Data for Progress.
Methodology
From August 13 to 16, 2021, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,193 likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points. N=1,193 unless otherwise specified. Some values may not add up to 100 due to rounding.