These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
82% Oppose Decision To Release Lockerbie Terrorist
Monday, August 24, 2009
Eighty-two percent (82%) of Americans disagree with the decision to release the terminally ill terrorist convicted of blowing up a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland so he could return home to die in his native Libya.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 10% agree with Scotland's decision to release Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the incident in which 270 people were killed. Eight percent (8%) are not sure.
Sizable majorities in every demographic category disagree with the decision to return the convicted Libyan terrorist to his own country.
Many U.S. politicians are now questioning the decision, charging the British government may have been seeking lucrative oil deals with the Libyans and pressured the Scots to release the terrorist. The British have insisted that the terrorist's release was for humanitarian reasons only.
Thirty-one percent (31%) of adults view Libya as an enemy of the United States, while only two percent (2%) view the North African Arab country as an ally. For 52%, Libya falls somewhere in between an ally and an enemy.
Men feel more strongly than women that Libya is an enemy. Most Democrats (58%) and adults not affiliated with either major political party (54%) see the country as somewhere in between. Forty-four percent (44%) of Republicans agree, but nearly as many (38%) say Libya is an enemy of the United States.
Libya's population is overwhelmingly Islamic, so these findings are perhaps no surprise since Americans still see more enemies than friends among the Islamic countries in the Middle East .
By comparison, 70% of Americans view Iran as an enemy . Libya falls much further down the list of those countries Americans view as enemies - between Venezuela (34%) and Russia (27%).
Twenty-one percent (21%) of U.S. voters believe that America's relationship with the Muslim world will be better a year from now , but that's down five points from late June. Twenty-five percent (25%) expect that relationship to get worse, while 44% say it will be roughly the same a year from now.
Sixty-three percent (63%) of adults say they have been following news reports about the Lockerbie terrorist, with 31% who say they have been following very closely. Twelve percent (12%) have not been following the news about him at all.
# # #
To view the original report, please use this link: Why Give Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi the Dignity He Denied His Victims?