The poll numbers Spaw cites proves two things. One, that propaganda works in brainwashing a lot of the people a lot of the time. The big spike in support for war with Iraq among "Americans polled" after Powell's speech at the UN proves that point perfectly.

Second, the poll numbers prove that despite widespread opposition among Americans over this war, the polling professionals keep devising ways of asking the questions that privleges the dominant, convervative Republican Beltway opinion over the people's opinion.

When you tune into the mainstream media, which of course not only is dominated by Beltway automatons, but also acts as the propaganda wing, rather than the Fourth Estate, of the US government, you get this sort of "false positive" opinion that the American public supports war in Iraq. Oddly, pollsters aren't asking the question, "Which is the more important priority for the Bush administration to attend to right now, 1) war with Iraq, or 2) the US economy, what do you suppose the result would be?

Here is an interesting article from TomPaine.com about the problem with the Fourth Estate as government propaganda wing:

http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6693