51% of Republican Caucus Goers Support Iraq Withdrawal Within Six Months

Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central noticed this nugget in the latest Strategic Vision poll of likely caucus goers:

4. Do you favor a withdrawal of all United States military from Iraq within the next six months? (Republicans Only)
Yes 51%
No 39%
Undecided 10%

Frankly, the number does not surprise me. Candidates who have more hard-line positions on the war avoid wearing their positions on their sleeves when they are in town, and I think that while immigration hurt McCain here, his outspoken support of the surge caused him just as much trouble over the past six months. Iowa Republicans are social conservatives, not hawks.

Also worth noting — and this is something Greg Sargent misses in his write-up — is that the poll screen intended only to include caucus going Republicans, not Republicans as a whole, and the results may have been different had the screen been wider. Still, though, among the most influential group of Republicans in the state, support for withdrawal is high.