The U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — two of the longest in U.S. history, waged simultaneously for nearly 9 years with the Afghanistan war now stretching into its 13th — are considered failures by a majority of the U.S. public.

This is according to a poll, released Thursday by Pew Research Center and USA Today, which finds that 52% say the U.S. “mostly failed” to reach its goals in Iraq, with 37% saying “it has mostly succeeded.” Respondents gave nearly identical answers when asked about the war in Afghanistan.

“Especially looking at the escalating sectarianism and violence today that is directly the result of the U.S. wars and occupations, it is not surprising that an even a bigger majority recognizes that these wars are failures,” said Phyllis Bennis, senior fellow at Institute for Policy Studies, in an interview with Common Dreams.

The assessments reflected in the poll, which was conducted Jan. 15-19 with 1,504 adult respondents, are significantly more bleak than previous ones. In November 2011, 56% of respondents said the U.S. had achieved its goals in Iraq, and in June 2011, 58% predicted that the U.S. would achieve its goals in Afghanistan.

Regarding the Iraq war, the biggest shift came from Republicans whose outlooks have grown far more grim. In 2011, 65% of republican respondents said that war was a success — a number that has now dwindled to 38%.