52% - 35% Majority Believes U.S. Should Leave Afghanistan Faster Now That Bin Laden Is Dead

Majority also favors making aid to Pakistan conditional on cooperation on pursuing Al Qaeda and the Taliban

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Jun 08, 2011, 06:04 ET

NEW YORK, June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A new BBC World News America/Harris Poll finds that a majority of Americans (52%) believe that the United States should move to get its troops out of Afghanistan now that Osama bin Laden is dead. However, 35% believe that U.S. troops should stay according to the existing plans. Reasons why most people favor withdrawing U.S. troops may be that a 51% to 14% majority of adults are not confident that U.S. policies in Afghanistan will be successful, and only 19% see the Afghan government as either an ally or a friend to the U.S. and 36% see it as unfriendly and an enemy.

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These are some of the findings of a new BBC World News America/Harris Poll of 2,027 U.S. adults surveyed online between May 31 and June 2, 2011 by Harris Interactive.

Other interesting findings in the poll include:

A large 66% to 20% majority of adults believes that it was better to have killed Osama bin Laden than to have captured him;
An even larger 66% to 18% majority believe that "if the United States has very reliable information that a nationally wanted terrorist or criminal like Osama bin Laden is located in a foreign country.... that we have the right to perform a military operation within that country without notifying the government";
The public is split on the impact of the killing of bin Laden on world opinion, with 41% thinking that it has made the United States more respected and 41% thinking has made no difference. Only 7% believe that it has made the U.S. less respected;
Israel continues to enjoy very strong support among Americans, with 41% of adults seeing it as a close ally and a further 30% as a friend;
The fall of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt have done nothing to improve U.S. attitudes to its government. In fact those who see the government of Egypt as a close ally or friend (43%) are somewhat lower now than when this question was asked in 2009 (52%) and 2010 (49%);
More people see Pakistan as unfriendly and an enemy (29%) than as a friend or ally (20%); and,
Many more people see the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan as unfriendly and enemies (38% and 36% respectively) than as friends or allies (22% and 19%). Attitudes to these two countries are only marginally less negative than they are to the government of Syria (16% friend or ally and 38% unfriendly and an enemy).

So What?

The killing of Osama bin Laden has done little to change the generally negative attitudes of Americans to the role of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Only 14% of adults are confident that U.S. policies there will be successful, virtually unchanged since two Harris polls in June and October last year.

Perhaps the most surprising findings in this poll are that many more people regard the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq as unfriendly and an enemy than as friends or allies, even though they were brought to power as a result of the U.S. invasions and have been kept in power by the presence of US troops.

TABLE 1 PREFER BIN LADEN CAPTURED OR KILLED "President Obama recently announced that in a secret military operation, following a fire-fight, Osama bin Laden was shot and killed by U.S. Navy SEALs. Do you think that the Navy SEALs should have captured bin Laden alive, or was it better that they killed him?" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Age
	Total	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+
	%	%	%	%	%
Better to have killed him (NET)	66	54	64	63	79
Definitely better to have killed him	41	27	39	45	53
Probably better to have killed him	25	28	26	18	26
Better to have captured him (NET)	20	28	21	19	11
Probably better to have captured him	11	16	8	11	7
Definitely better to have captured him	9	13	14	8	4
Not sure	14	17	14	18	9
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 2 AGREEMENT ABOUT THE UNITED STATES' RIGHT TO PERFORM MILITARY OPERATIONS IN OTHER COUNTRIES "If the United States has very reliable information that a nationally wanted terrorist or criminal like Osama bin Laden is located in a foreign country, do you agree or disagree that we have the right to perform a military operation within that country, without notifying its government?" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Age
	Total	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+
	%	%	%	%	%
Agree (NET)	66	58	67	65	75
Strongly agree	41	30	41	40	51
Somewhat agree	26	28	26	25	24
Disagree (NET)	18	24	17	16	14
Somewhat disagree	12	14	11	13	9
Strongly disagree	6	10	7	4	5
Not sure	15	18	16	18	11
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3 IMPACT ON TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN "Given the fact that Osama bin Laden has now been killed, do you think that the United States should move to get U.S. military personnel out of Afghanistan faster than has been planned, or not?" U.S. military personnel should… Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Gender		Education
	Total	Male	Female	H.S. or less	Some college	College grad +
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Should get out faster (NET)	52	49	55	52	52	52
Should get out immediately	18	16	21	19	20	15
Should get out somewhat faster	34	32	35	32	32	37
Should stay according to plans	35	43	27	33	35	36
Not sure	13	8	18	15	13	11
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 4 U.S. RESPONSE WITH REGARD TO PAKISTAN "Given that Osama bin Laden had been living in Pakistan for several years, which of the following, if any, do you think the United States should do now that he has been killed?" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Age
	Total	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+
	%	%	%	%	%
Make aid to Pakistan conditional on Pakistan's cooperation in pursuing Al Qaeda and Taliban within their country	56	51	51	53	65
Cut off all aid to Pakistan	22	19	26	24	22
Cut off some aid to Pakistan	9	12	10	8	7
None of these	12	18	13	15	5
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 5 RESPECT FOR THE U.S. AROUND THE WORLD "After Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs, do you think the U.S. is now more or less respected around the world?" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Age
	Total	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+
	%	%	%	%	%
More respected (NET)	41	38	39	40	47
Much more respected	16	12	13	18	20
Somewhat more respected	25	26	26	22	27
No change	41	40	44	39	42
Less respected (NET)	7	8	7	8	6
Somewhat less respected	5	7	4	4	3
Much less respected	2	2	3	3	2
Not sure	11	14	10	14	6
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 6A ATTITUDES OF U.S. ADULTS TOWARD VARIOUS COUNTRIES "Thinking of the governments of these countries – do you believe each government is a close ally of the United States, a friend but not a close ally, is not friendly but not an enemy, or is unfriendly and an enemy of the United States?" Base: U.S. Adults
		A close ally/ A friend but not a close ally (NET)	A close ally	A friend but not a close ally	Not friendly but not an enemy	Unfriendly and an enemy
Israel	%	71	41	30	22	7
Egypt	%	43	6	38	45	12
Iraq	%	22	2	20	39	38
Pakistan	%	20	2	18	51	29
Afghanistan	%	19	2	17	45	36
Syria	%	16	2	14	46	38
Note: Percentages may not add up to exactly 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 6B COUNTRIES THAT ARE CLOSE ALLIES OR FRIENDS OF U.S. – TREND "Thinking of the governments of these countries – do you believe each government is a close ally of the United States, a friend but not a close ally, is not friendly but not an enemy, or is unfriendly and an enemy of the United States?" Summary of those saying "a close ally" or "a friend but not a close ally" Base: U.S. Adults
	August 2006	December 2007	November 2009	October 2010	May 2011
	%	%	%	%	%
Israel	75	67	74	69	71
Egypt	45	46	52	49	43
Iraq	18	19	23	23	22
Pakistan	n/a	26	27	21	20
Afghanistan	23	23	21	18	19
Syria	8	14	15	14	16
n/a = Not asked

TABLE 7A CONFIDENCE IN POLICIES IN AFGHANISTAN "How confident are you that U.S. policies in Afghanistan will be successful?" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Age
	Total	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+
	%	%	%	%	%
Confident	14	16	17	15	11
Not confident	51	48	46	46	58
Not sure	35	36	37	39	32
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 7B CONFIDENCE IN POLICIES IN AFGHANISTAN – TREND "How confident are you that U.S. policies in Afghanistan will be successful?" Base: All Adults
	July 2005	May 2007	August 2008	April 2009	Sept 2009	Nov 2009	Jan 2010	June 2010	Oct 2010	June 2011
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Confident	25	22	17	27	14	12	15	12	12	14
Not confident	45	41	54	40	55	61	53	55	60	51
Not sure	30	37	29	33	31	28	32	34	28	35
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

Methodology

This BBC World News America/Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between May 31 and June 2, 2011 among 2,027 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Where appropriate, this data were also weighted to reflect the composition of the adult online population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

The Harris Poll® #69, June 8, 2011

By Humphrey Taylor, Chairman, The Harris Poll

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

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