Washington, March 01: Americans are wary of the current chaotic political situation in several Arab countries including Libya but strongly believe the United States should stay out of the picture.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 29% of American Adults think a change of government in any of these Arab countries will be good for the United States, while slightly more (33%) feel such a change will be bad for America. Twelve percent (12%) say it will have no impact, but one-in-four (26%) aren’t sure what to expect.
However, as with the recent turmoil in Egypt, most Americans (67%) say the United States should leave the situation in the Arab countries alone. Just 17% say the United States should get more directly involved in the political situation there, but another 17% are not sure.
Americans are skeptical about the political changes that are likely to come from the growing – and, in Libya’s case, violent – protests. Thirty percent (30%) believe it is at least somewhat likely that most of these Arab countries will become free, democratic and peaceful over the next few years, but that includes just four percent (4%) who say it is Very Likely. Sixty-one percent (61%) view a democratic and peaceful outcome as unlikely, with 14% who say it is Not At All Likely.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of Likely U.S. Voters believe that it’s generally good for America when dictators in other countries are replaced with leaders selected in free and fair elections.
The survey of 1,000 American Adults was conducted on February 21-22, 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.
Seventy-three percent (73%) of adults say they are following news reports about the spreading political unrest in several Arab nations, with 40% who are following Very Closely.
Republicans are nearly twice as likely as Democrats to think a change of government in any of these Arab countries will be bad for the United States.
Twenty-seven percent (27%) of Republicans say the United States should get more directly involved in the political situation over there, a view shared by just seven percent (7%) of Democrats and 15% of adults not affiliated with either of the major parties.
But most Americans across all demographic categories say America should leave the situation in the Arab world alone.
The majority of Republicans (74%) and unaffiliateds (61%) believe it is unlikely that most of the Arab countries now in political turmoil will become free, democratic and peaceful over the next few years. Democrats are much more narrowly divided on the question.
In August 2009, following the British government’s decision to send the terminally ill terrorist convicted of blowing up a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland back home to Libya, 31% of Americans described the North African Arab country as an enemy of the United States. Only two percent (2%) said Libya was a U.S. ally, while 52% rated it somewhere in between an enemy and an ally.
Since longtime Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s decision to resign earlier this month in the face of continuing national protests, U.S. voter confidence about the situation in Egypt has improved somewhat. Fifty-four percent (54%) believe it is at least somewhat likely that Egypt will become a free, democratic and peaceful nation over the next few years.
But 60% of Americans think it is more important for the United States to be allies with any country that best protects our own national security than it is to be allies only with countries that have freely elected governments.
–Agencies