Anti-War Demonstrations and American Public Opinion on the War in Vietnam

Evidence was brought to bear on the question of the crediting of anti-Vietnam war demonstrations with the American public's disenchantment with the war in Vietnam. Demonstrations had no measurable effect on the decline in favourable public opinion as measured by Vietnam-related poll and survey questions; such changes in opinions largely were explicable by other factors (presidential policy initiatives and war-related events in the short-run; casualties and duration of the war in the long-run). The American public's general dislike for Vietnam war protesters also makes it unlikely that demonstrations could have served as 'mediating links' between the war and the American public; it appears that the news media served this purpose. The major implication of this account is that anti-war demonstrations in the U.S.A. are not effective instruments for changing American pbulic opinion.