Recently John McCain spoke about his intention to keep the troops in Iraq until he feels the war is won. He figures that it could take until 2013, the end of his presumptive first term as President. Both of the Democratic candidates have stated their intention to start bringing the troops home as soon as possible. The latest poll from Rasmussen Reports takes a look at both positions and the thoughts of the American voters.

Just how important is “winning the war “ to the American people? The poll shows that “winning the war” is more important than bringing the troops home to 39% of people polled, while bringing the troops home within four years is more important to 52%. If John McCain is elected President, 39% believe it is possible to win the war and if Barack Obama is elected President, 20% believe it is possible to win the war.

Breaking it down by demographics, those who believe that “winning the war” is more important, 84% believe it is possible if McCain is the winner and of those who believe that bringing the troops home is more important, 67% believe that Obama will accomplish it in four years time. Not surprisingly,79% of the Democrats believe bringing the troops home is more important and 72% of the Republicans believe it is more important to “win the war”.

This poll focused of the four year time frame that McCain set out in his speech. In previous polls they focused on the plan of starting to bring the troops home within 2009. The last poll from Rasmussen that asked about at least starting to bring the troops home with in a year was taken on May 6th and in that poll 62% said they want the troops home within a year and 29% said the want the troops home immediately.

What does “win the war “ actually mean? Does it mean staying until there is no more conflict or does it mean staying until the Iraqi forces can control the situation by themselves? It seems the idea of “winning the war” has changed since the present President flew onto the deck of an aircraft carrier just two months after the invasion of Iraq and stated that the mission was accomplished and major combat was over. It seems our goals have changed and we now are expected to stay until all is peace and calm, which would be a miracle considering that the fractions in Iraq have a mind set where they think that being loyal to their particular group is more important than being Iraqi.