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."
65% Want U.S. To Stay Out of Syrian Crisis
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Dictatorial Syria appears to be cracking down harder on anti-government protestors than any other country in the region except Libya, but U.S. voters are adamant about staying out of the problems of yet another Arab country.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just nine percent (9%) of Likely U.S. Voters think the United States should get more directly involved in the Syrian crisis. Sixty-five percent (65%) say America should leave the situation alone. But one-in-four voters (25%) aren't sure. (To see survey question wording, click here .)
These findings are comparable to the views voters held in the early stages of the protests in Egypt in late January and in Libya a month later.
Yet while the Obama administration has limited itself publicly to criticism of the Syrian government's actions, just 28% of voters think the administration's response has been good or excellent. Nearly as many (23%) rate the response as poor.
Sixty-seven percent (67%) say they are following recent news reports about the political unrest in Syria at least somewhat closely, with 27% who are following Very Closely. This is slightly less interest than Americans showed toward Egypt and Libya as protests in those countries grew. The high level of uncertainty in some of the responses suggests voters are not following the Syrian situation very closely at this time.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on May 9-10, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology.
Only four percent (4%) of voters consider Syria an ally of the United States, while 23% view it as an enemy. Fifty-four percent (54%) see the country as somewhere in between an ally and an enemy, while 19% more aren't sure how to categorize it.
Syria, which borders Israel to the northeast along the Golan Heights, has long been one of the Jewish state's harshest foes and has played a major role in destabilizing neighboring Lebanon.
Americans have consistently said in surveys for years that Israel is one of the top U.S. allies . It's also one of only five countries worldwide that most Americans think the United States should help defend militarily if it is attacked.
Twenty-seven percent (27%) of voters believe a change in the government of Syria would be good for the United States, while 11% think such a change would be bad for America. Twenty-nine percent (29%) say it would have no impact. A sizable 34%, however, are undecided.
There's virtually no partisan disagreement when it comes to U.S. involvement in the Syrian crisis. But while 54% of Democrats think the administration's response to events there has been good or excellent, just 10% of Republicans and 20% of voters not affiliated with either of the major parties agree.
Republicans and unaffiliated voters are more than twice as likely as Democrats to regard Syria as an enemy of the United States.
Voters remain almost evenly divided over President Obama's decision to commit U.S. military forces on the side of rebels seeking to overthrow Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Even before the stepped-up U.S. role in Libya, 58% of Americans worried that the political unrest in Arab countries like Egypt and Libya may get America into another big war .
But 76% of voters believe that it's generally good for America when dictators in other countries are replaced with leaders selected in free and fair elections.
Most Americans don't feel that the killing of Osama bin Laden will worsen U.S. relations with the Muslim world.
A month ago, voter confidence in U.S. efforts in the War on Terror fell to its lowest level in over four years. Now, that confidence has soared following the killing of bin Laden. Voters are also much more confident that the country is safer today than it was before the September 11, 2001 terror attacks that bin Laden orchestrated.