Most Americans Now Support Airstrikes In Syria, Poll Shows
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A majority of Americans think the United States should expand its military campaign against insurgents in Iraq into Syria as well, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll shows.
According to the poll, 60 percent of Americans now support airstrikes against insurgents in Syria, while 20 percent are opposed. That level of support approached the 64 percent of Americans in the survey who said they support the current airstrike campaign in Iraq.
Fifty-six percent of Democrats, 54 percent of independents and 79 percent of Republicans said they support airstrikes in Syria.
Support for intervening in Syria has grown dramatically in the past year. A HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted last September found that only 13 percent of Americans thought the U.S. should use airstrikes, while 62 percent said it should not. That poll was conducted after President Barack Obama had considered strikes in response to the Syrian government's use of chemical weapons. The plan was abandoned after Obama failed to win support for it in Congress.
This time, the administration is considering expanding a campaign of airstrikes, which has already begun in Iraq, to include Syria. The Islamic State, the insurgent group that killed American journalist James Foley, operates in both countries. Obamasaid Thursday that "we don't have a strategy yet" for dealing with the group in Syria.
The latest poll also shows bipartisan support for the airstrikes that have already begun in Iraq. Sixty-four percent of Democrats, 57 percent of independents and 73 percent of Republicans said they support the decision to authorize strikes there.
American support for intervening abroad has also grown more generally. A Pew Research Center poll released Thursday found that the percentage of Americans saying the U.S. is doing too little to help solve the world's problems has doubled since November.
The HuffPost/YouGov poll was conducted Aug. 26-28 among 1,000 U.S. adults using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.
The Huffington Post has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov's nationally representative opinion polling. Data from all HuffPost/YouGov polls can be foundhere.
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