When and Why Should The United States Intervene Militarily?

Consensus that U.S. should not be "the world's policeman" and that each case should be considered on its merits, but no consensus on 9 cases where U.S. has, or has not, intervened over last 20 years

News provided by

Harris Interactive

Apr 20, 2011, 12:04 ET

NEW YORK, April 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A new BBC World News America/Harris Poll examines American attitudes to U.S. military intervention in other countries, from Afghanistan and Bosnia to Libya and Darfur, and finds that there are widespread disagreements about almost all of the six countries where the U.S. intervened and three countries where it did not. However there was widespread agreement that the U.S. should not be the "world's policeman" (67% to 11%) and that each case where intervention is possible should be considered separately rather than using a predetermined set of policies (63% vs. 25%). The poll also found that there are 6 circumstances where a majority of the public believes that in general it is right for the U.S. to intervene militarily.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100517/NY06256LOGO)

These are some of the findings of a new BBC World News America/Harris Poll of 2,483 U.S. adults surveyed online between April 8 and 12, 2011 by Harris Interactive.

The main findings of the poll include:

Only 31% of all adults feel that President Obama has explained clearly when the U.S. should and should not use military force. Many are not sure (25%), while 44% believe he has not been clear;
Large numbers of people (22% or more) are not sure whether or not it was right to intervene in six countries where U.S. troops or airplanes have been used, and in some cases almost half the country is unsure (47% are unsure about Bosnia and 47% are unsure about Somalia);
A sizable 47% to 27% plurality believes that intervening in Afghanistan was the right thing to do but opinion is more or less evenly divided on U.S. intervention in Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Kosovo;
Even larger numbers have no opinions on three cases where the U.S. did not use military force – the Ivory Coast (53% not sure), Darfur (45% not sure) and Rwanda (also 45% not sure). Of those with opinions, a 32% to 15% plurality believes the U.S. was right to not intervene in the Ivory Coast, while opinions are equally split on Darfur and Rwanda;
There is widespread support for military intervention under the following circumstances: to prevent terrorist attacks on the U.S. (79%), to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists (78%), if a strong and friendly ally is attacked (74%), to prevent a country that is hostile to the United States from building nuclear weapons (71%), if a dictator is killing large numbers of their own people (66%) and to overthrow a dictator who is very hostile to the U.S. (55%);
Only 33% favor the use of U.S. force to change a dictatorship into a democracy;
The replies concerning Libya are somewhat contradictory — while only 32% of the public think it was right to intervene there, 40% think the president should have intervened earlier (20%) or that he intervened at the right time (20%), with 25% saying he should not have intervened at all; and,
With one exception, the majorities in favor of using U.S. military force are conditional on the U.S. having strong support from other countries. The exception: a 61% majority believes that the U.S. should use force to prevent terror attacks on the U.S. even if it is not strongly supported by allies. Far fewer think the U.S. should use force unilaterally to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists (46%), to prevent a hostile country from building nuclear weapons (31%), or if a dictator is killing large numbers of his own people (22%).

So What?

While the public is split on many of the issues addressed in this poll, the big picture is rather clear. In the abstract, most Americans favor the use of force to intervene in other countries under some circumstances but not others. With rare exception however, most people do not favor the unilateral use of force; having strong allies is very important to many people and the approach is pragmatic; they believe each and every case should be considered on its merits rather than by a set of rules or principles. In most of the specific cases where the U.S. has or has not intervened over the last 20 years the public is split, with the strongest plurality in favor of intervention regarding Afghanistan and the strongest opposition regarding Iraq.

TABLE 1 HOW CLEARLY HAS PRESIDENT OBAMA EXPLAINED HIS POLICIES ON WHEN TO INTERVENE MILITARILY "Some people have used the words 'The Obama Doctrine' to describe President Obama's explanation of when the United States should, or should not, intervene militarily in other countries. How clearly do you think he has explained this policy?" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Gender		Education
	Total	Male	Female	H.S. or less	Some college	College grad +
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Clearly (NET)	31	35	27	28	28	39
Very clearly	11	13	8	8	11	14
Somewhat clearly	21	23	19	20	17	25
Not clearly (NET)	44	49	38	41	49	44
Not very clearly	21	21	21	20	21	22
Not at all clearly	23	28	17	20	27	21
Not sure	25	15	34	31	23	17
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 2A ASSESSMENT OF WHERE THE U.S. HAS INTERVENED "Below is a list of places where the United States has intervened in the last two decades, using military force. Do you think it was right or wrong that we did so in each of these places?" Base: All U.S. adults
	Right	Wrong	Not sure
	%	%	%
Afghanistan	47	27	26
Iraq	36	42	22
Bosnia	32	21	47
Libya	32	32	35
Somalia	29	24	47
Kosovo	28	21	50
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 2B ASSESSMENT OF WHERE THE U.S. HAS INTERVENED "Below is a list of places where the United States has intervened in the last two decades, using military force. Do you think it was right or wrong that we did so in each of these places?" Summary of those saying "right" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Age				Gender
	Total	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+	Male	Female
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Afghanistan	47	42	45	53	50	54	41
Iraq	36	31	33	42	38	40	32
Bosnia	32	27	31	38	35	43	23
Libya	32	29	32	33	35	39	26
Somalia	29	28	26	33	30	36	22
Kosovo	28	26	26	31	30	39	19
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3A ASSESSMENT OF WHERE THE U.S. HAS NOT INTERVENED "Below is a list of places where the United States has not intervened militarily. Do you think it was right or wrong that we did not do so in each of these places?" Base: All U.S. adults
	Right	Wrong	Not sure
	%	%	%
Ivory Coast	32	15	53
Darfur	28	27	45
Rwanda	28	27	45
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3B ASSESSMENT OF WHERE THE U.S. HAS NOT INTERVENED "Below is a list of places where the United States has not intervened militarily. Do you think it was right or wrong that we did not do so in each of these places?" Summary of those saying "right" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Age				Gender
	Total	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+	Male	Female
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Ivory Coast	32	25	30	32	39	40	25
Darfur	28	22	27	26	35	34	22
Rwanda	28	20	28	28	34	34	22
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 4A WHEN SHOULD THE U.S. USE MILITARY FORCE "President Obama has said that if necessary, he would use military force to protect the vital interests and security of the United States, but that on some occasions he would only do so if the United States was strongly supported by other countries. For each of the following please indicate what you think the United States should do." Base: All U.S. adults
	Intervene even without strong allies	Intervene only with strong allies	Not intervene	Not sure
	%	%	%	%
To prevent terrorist attacks against the United States	61	18	5	16
To prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists	46	32	4	18
If a strong and friendly ally is attacked	39	35	5	21
To prevent a country that is hostile to the United States from building nuclear weapons	31	40	8	21
If a dictator is killing large numbers of their own people	22	45	14	20
To overthrow a dictator who is very hostile to the United States	21	33	23	23
To change a dictatorship into a democracy	5	28	42	25
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 4B WHEN SHOULD THE U.S. USE MILITARY FORCE "President Obama has said that if necessary, he would use military force to protect the vital interests and security of the United States, but that on some occasions he would only do so if the United States was strongly supported by other countries. For each of the following please indicate what you think the United States should do." Summary of those saying "intervene" (intervene without strong allies and intervene only with strong allies) Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Age				Gender
	Total	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+	Male	Female
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
To prevent terrorist attacks against the United States	79	69	69	84	90	85	74
To prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists	78	70	69	81	90	84	73
If a strong and friendly ally is attacked	74	67	66	75	84	82	67
To prevent a country that is hostile to the United States from building nuclear weapons	71	61	61	74	84	77	65
If a dictator is killing large numbers of their own people	66	63	56	68	76	71	62
To overthrow a dictator who is very hostile to the United States	55	51	46	58	61	58	51
To change a dictatorship into a democracy	33	27	31	33	40	37	28
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 5 SHOULD THE U.S. HAVE CLEAR POLICIES OR DEAL WITH SITUATIONS INDIVIDUALLY "Do you think the United States should…?" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Education			Age
	Total	H.S. or less	Some college	College grad +	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Consider each case for using military force individually	63	56	66	69	61	58	63	67
Have a clear set of policies to determine when the U.S. should use military force	25	28	25	22	23	27	25	27
Not sure	12	16	9	9	16	16	12	6
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 6 SHOULD THE U.S. ACT AS THE WORLD'S POLICEMAN "Would you like to see the United States act as 'the world's policeman', protecting democratic states and punishing those that are brutal or repressive?" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Education			Age				Gender
	Total	H.S. or less	Some college	College grad +	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+	Male	Female
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	11	10	13	10	12	13	10	8	13	8
No	67	63	68	71	63	63	61	76	70	64
Not sure	23	27	19	19	25	24	29	16	17	28
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 7 OPINIONS ON PRESIDENT OBAMA'S ACTIONS IN LIBYA "What would you say about President Obama's decision to use the U.S. Air Force and missiles in Libya?" Base: All U.S. adults
	Total	Age				Gender
	Total	18-34	35-44	45-54	55+	Male	Female
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
He should have intervened earlier	20	14	17	21	26	26	14
He intervened at the right time	20	17	21	18	25	23	18
He should have intervened later	2	4	3	2	1	3	2
He should not have intervened at all	25	25	22	28	26	28	23
Not sure	32	41	36	31	22	20	43
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

Methodology

This BBC World News America/Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between April 8 and 12, 2011 among 2,483 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® #50, April 20, 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.

About the BBC AMERICA

BBC AMERICA brings audiences a new generation of award-winning television featuring news with a uniquely global perspective, provocative dramas, razor-sharp comedies and life-changing makeovers. BBC AMERICA pushes the boundaries to deliver high quality, highly addictive and eminently watchable programming to viewers who demand more. BBC AMERICA is distributed by Discovery Networks. It is available on digital cable and satellite TV in more than 64 million homes. For up-to-the-minute information on BBC AMERICA, forthcoming U.S. premieres, art work and news from the channel, log on to www.press.bbcamerica.com.

Press Contact:
Corporate Communications
Harris Interactive
212-539-9600
[email protected]

SOURCE Harris Interactive