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Defusing the History Wars

December 7, 2022

Topic

Culture Wars

Narrative & Communications

American Identity

Perception Gaps

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Key Takeaways

Based on a survey of 2000 Americans, this report explores Americans’ attitudes towards and memories of the Iraq War (2003-2011). We produced this report as part of our Veterans and Citizens Initiative (thevci.org), to observe the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Our goal is to help generate a greater understanding and connection between the veteran and military community and the broader society.

  • Only 1 in 4 Americans “often” or “sometimes” think about the Iraq War and only 1 in 5 say the war changed their life.
  • When asked about major events from the war, few Americans are familiar with much beyond the invasion, capture of Saddam Hussein, and the withdrawal in 2011.
  • Only 3 in 10 Americans say they have talked with an Iraq War veteran about his or her service in the war. 77 percent of Americans – with little variation across demographics or ideology – feel it is important, as individuals, to learn about the Iraq War. 

Constructive Dialogue Institute and More in Common partnered with
Qualtrics, a research firm known for its best-of-class survey platform and
research panels, to conduct this study. The survey was conducted with N =
2,618 U.S. college students from March 27 to May 18, 2023. The margin of
error is +/- 2% for the overall U.S. college students sample and higher for
subgroups. Demographic quotas were set to ensure adequate representation
of participants by gender, race, institution type (public vs. private), and region
of the country. As a result, the sample’s demographics closely resembled the
population of college students in the U.S.

4%

The Iraq War is largely invisible and out-of-mind for most Americans.

21%

Say they “often” think about the Iraq War. 

39%

Americans are mixed in their views of whether the Iraq War succeeded or failed

Overview

Debates over Critical Race Theory. Combative school board meetings that have led to arrests. Bills that aim to impose limits on classroom conversations about racism and history. Today, America is embroiled in a culture war over whether we should see our national history as a source of pride or a source of shame. 

We at More in Common are curious about these ‘history wars’— and through an extensive and in-depth exploration of American public opinion, we discovered they are often being fought between imaginary enemies.

To better understand this conflict, we conducted a year-long research project asking thousands of Americans their views of American history and national identity and what they understood to be the views of their fellow Americans. 

One of our most notable findings is that both Democrats and Republicans alike grossly overestimate whether members of the opposing party hold extreme views. We call this a ‘Perception Gap’ — the gap between what we imagine an opposing group believes and what that group actually believes.

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In The News

get more news

15 March 2023

20 YEARS LATER: Most Americans see Iraq War as mixed bag at best 

The National Desk

The Perception Gap

Read our original perception gap report, conducted in 2019 where we found Democrats and Republicans imagine almost twice as many of their political opponents as reality hold views they consider “extreme”. Even on the most controversial issues in our national debates, Americans are less divided than most of us think

read more

Defusing the History Wars

In 2021-2022, we asked thousands of Americans their views of American history and national identity and what they understood to be the views of their fellow Americans. Similar to our 2019 findings, we found a majority of Americans across political affiliations agree on fundamental ideas about our national history and how it should be taught.

read more

Download Full Report

Explore the depth of our research at your fingertips. Get the complete insights by downloading the full report today.

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