A majority continues to support the war against ISIS (57%), but most Americans don’t think the campaign is going well:

A larger majority (62%) doesn’t believe that the campaign has a “clear goal,” and an even larger majority (73%) thinks that U.S. allies aren’t doing enough to help. All of this bodes ill for sustained public support of the war as it enters its third month. The administration’s claim that it had the support of a “broad coalition” was always misleading, and the public has noticed the lack of substantial contributions from U.S. allies and clients. Americans are probably concluding that the war isn’t going well because many are expecting more immediate successes than a bombing campaign can provide. In general, Americans tend to turn against wars that lack a clear goal and don’t make much discernible progress against the enemy.

It is a little bit surprising that most Americans don’t see the war as having a clear goal, since that is one of the very few things that can be said in favor of this intervention. There is no confusion about the stated ultimate goal, which is to “destroy” ISIS. The problem is that the goal was and continues to be unrealistic, especially given the minimal means being employed. There is fortunately still not much support for escalation. While the public is split in its concerns about the war (47% worry that the U.S. will be pulled in deeper into the conflict, 43% worry that the U.S. won’t go “far enough”), there is a majority against sending U.S. ground forces into combat:

As it is on so many foreign policy issues nowadays, most of the GOP is sharply at odds with the rest of the country on the question of sending ground forces into combat in Iraq and Syria. On this and many other issues, hawkishness is a dead end for Republicans.