Only 27% Support For U.S. Intervention In Libya

Just about one month in, the public still isn’t thrilled with the idea of U.S. involvement in Libya:

Our most recent national poll found that only 27% of Americans supported the military intervention in Libya to 40% who were opposed and 33% who had no opinion. Democrats only narrowly stand behind the President in supporting the action in Libya, 31/28. Meanwhile Republicans (21/51) and independents (29/42) are considerably more unified in their opposition.

(…)

Obama’s not picking up any Republicans on Libya- just 4% say his actions there make them more likely to vote for him. He’s losing more Democrats on the issue- 14% say it makes them less inclined to support him again. And it’s also hurting him with independents, who split 13% more likely to vote for him because of Libya to 29% less likely.

It’s unclear whether this will have much of a political impact on the President in the end, especially with the election some 18 months away, but once again it seems that when it comes to foreign policy the people are smarter than their leaders.

 

FILED UNDER: Africa, Public Opinion Polls, US Politics, World Politics,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Ghoma says:

    What is the margin of error on this “poll”? It must be huge.

  2. Oh jeez you guyz, says:

    I’m not sure that I would say “smarter” than their leaders–although in this case, smarter is not a particularly high bar to clear. I would say that opposition shows that the public is more consistant in their disdane for foreign policy decisions at all. The public tends to be isolationistic–this poll reflects that view.