War Attitude

The U.S. people have an astoundingly uniform belief about the prospects of the war and their willingness to fight it to a finish. That was the conclusion that could be drawn last week from FORTUNE'S May survey:

> 67.8% believe the war will last more than 1 1/2 years.

> 80.6%, though absolutely confident of winning, believe it is going to be "a very tough job."

> 70% of the public are willing to have Government 1) register all male civilians for work in defense industries "wherever they are needed," 2) "strictly ration all food or materials that might become scarce," 3) make war workers who strike join the Army or Navy.

> 68.4% think Government should register "all able-bodied women" for full-time wartime jobs (unless they have children).

> 86.3% believe that Mr. Roosevelt is the best man to have as President now, that although he has made some mistakes "on the whole he is doing a pretty good job."

> Among Presidential assistants the public finds that only Ickes, Frances Perkins, Hillman are "disappointing." On Jesse Jones, opinion is evenly divided. The man doing the best job: Donald Nelson.

Two things FORTUNE found missing from the picture. Not enough has been asked of the people. And the people have not shown enough initiative. To the question--Are you doing any volunteer war work?--61.7% answered: "No."

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