Poll: Americans split on troop increase

Half of Americans would favor sending 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan, with 49% opposed, a new CNN poll finds.

Strangely, however, just 45% of respondents support the war at all, meaning that more Americans support a troop increase than the war in general.

CNN's polling director ventures a hypothesis:

"The war is unpopular and previous polls have shown that Americans oppose sending more troops in the abstract," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "But it may be a different story when Americans are confronted with an actual decision, by the Commander-in-chief, on a military matter. Previous presidents have seen a 'rally effect' - at least temporarily - when they have made command decisions like this one."