This new HuffPo/Open Gov poll on American views on Iraq is something to behold. Key nuggets:
1) Nearly half (45%) of Americans do not personally know someone who served in combat in Iraq.
2) Only a sixth of Americans can say they or someone in their immediate family personally served in Iraq.
3) 80 percent of Americans do not know someone who was injured in Iraq.
4) 89 percent of Americans do not personally know anyone killed in Iraq.
This survey certainly bolsters the general premise - if you're willing to totally ignore the silly conclusions - of Charles Murray's Coming Apart. When such a broad swath of Americans haven't the slightest bit of a personal connection to a war, how can we expect them to make informed choices about public policy?