Direct impact small, but strong John Mueller, an Ohio State expert on wartime public opinion, says the

war has brought a lot of change to a relative few. Rose Gill, 56, of Round Rock, Texas, lost her Marine son Steven to an improvised bomb last July in Iraq. She lost her job three weeks later because she was too distraught to go back to work. Her voice-mail message still refers to Steven's passing. "My life has gone to hell," she says. In October, Gill finished the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington with a broken foot. "I did it for my son," she says. "I would have crawled if I had to." The war also has galvanized its opponents. Jim Murphy, 60, joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War three decades ago. Now he's back in action, speaking in New York City-area high schools about the war, advising students considering enlisting, and counseling returning veterans. Despite the lack of big demonstrations, "we have small community groups out there in the street, day after day," he says. "Some people honk. Some give 'em the bird." For most people, however, the war is no more than a yellow ribbon magnet on the back of a car, a killed-in-action bracelet, a photo in the paper or an image on the screen. In the USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken March 10-12, 45% of Americans say that after three years, the war hasn't had much effect on them personally an assessment shared by 31% of those polled in 1991 during the much shorter Gulf War. Fourteen percent say they've been personally affected for the better (down from 37% in April 2003) and 39% for worse (up from 16%). More than half say they have close friends, relatives or co-workers who have served in Iraq, and 12% say one of those people was killed or wounded there. A majority of poll respondents say they have not sent a letter, e-mail or care package to troops in Iraq; not voted for or against a candidate based on war views; not attended a funeral or memorial service for someone killed in Iraq; and not publicly opposed or supported the war by demonstrating or writing to a public official. Feelings pour out Asked how the war has touched them, many people talk about their feelings: Impotence. "There's a feeling that we're the last superpower, but we can't get the lights on in Baghdad," says Mueller, the Ohio State

professor. "You don't even hear the word 'superpower' as much any more." Patriotism. "We saw a convoy from Fort Campbell the other day, and there was a lot of honkin' and wavin' " from the passing vehicles, says Ron Johnson, 68, of Eddyville, Ky. "It was good to see." Apprehension. "During Vietnam, Lyndon Johnson said we can fight them there or fight them here, but no one believed it," Kazin says. "This time, there's more fear about what happens next." Carl Hurst, a retired high school history teacher in Marble Hill, Mo., feels this way: "If we don't win there, we'll face something much greater here in the future." Gratitude. The U.S. military effort in Iraq "makes me feel more secure about the problem of terrorism," says Nira Rubin, who drives to high school in North Miami Beach with three yellow ribbon magnets on her van. Dorothy Ornstil, 75, of Delray Beach, Fla., is grateful that Saddam Hussein was deposed: "I'm Jewish, and if something had been done (about Hitler), 6 million people wouldn't have died." Discouragement. "For a generation, Americans will be much less apt to support missions like Iraq," Segal says. "If Iran or North Korea is doing nasty things with fissionable material, a president who wants to do something about it will have a harder time getting the country to go along." Tony Garner, 58, a former Army reservist from Goshen, Ky., says "people keep saying this is not like Vietnam, but it's pretty close. And we're gonna get out the same way we got out of Vietnam. It won't be a win, and it won't be a draw. It'll be a waste of a lot of American lives and Iraqi lives and a ton of money." Guilt. "We have the luxury of being over here, griping about how the war's going. That's not the reality for the people over there," says Carol Lee of Thibodaux, La. Ornstil remembers growing up in Brooklyn during World War II seeing ration stamps and service stars in the windows of homes of families like hers, those with men at war. "Now I think we should be more involved in sacrifice less gas consumption," she says. "But I don't see much effect here, except for a lot of strong feelings." Conflict. "The war has polarized people," says Sam Duncan, 35, of Houston. "It's made them more zealous about their political beliefs." Ornstil agrees: "I just had an argument about the war with my friend driving over here."

Grief. Lee is among the 50% in the poll who say they've cried because of something related to the war. "I'm not much of a crier," she says, "but going to war is not a minor thing."