Finnish Opinions on the Iraq War, March 2003

The survey studied Finnish attitudes towards the war against Iraq. The allied forces led by the United States had attacked Iraq a few days prior to the data collection. Respondents were asked whether they approve of the attack on Iraq and whether they had been able to obtain a reliable picture of the war from the media. Views were probed on the likely consequences of the Iraq war on EU foreign and security policy, the status of UN as an international peace keeper, the status of Nato as a military alliance, the status of US and Russia in international politics, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and the polarity between the Western and the Islamic world. Respondents assessed the foreign policy of Finland regarding the war. They were asked whether Finland should give humanitarian aid to Iraq, participate in its reconstruction, accept refugees, participate in peacekeeping operations in Iraq or forbid the export of arms to countries participating in the war. Background variables included the respondent's sex, age, region of residence, education, employment status, household composition, annual gross income of the household and party choice in the 2003 parliamentary elections.