Poll: Americans Oppose Obama on Arming Rebels

Results of a new poll from the Pew Center displayed that 70 percent of Americans oppose the Obama administration’s recently-revealed plans to send weaponry to the Syrian rebels.
The poll, conducted in roughly equal parts before and after the US government revealed that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons against the rebels, asked respondents to give their opinion on “the US and its allies’ giving arms to anti-government groups in Syria.” A scant 20 percent of Americans said they would favor this course of action, while nine percent had no opinion.

These results are in keeping with two previous Pew polls, in March and December of 2012, that asked the same question, suggesting the American public opinion on the question of providing arms had not changed alongside the shifting contours of the Syrian conflict itself.

Other polling on intervention in Syria’s war has been more mixed. A Gallup poll conducted in late May asking whether the US should use military force if diplomacy fails to resolve the conflict found 68 percent opposed the idea.

The most recent Pew poll suggested American opposition to intervention in Syria was practical, not principled. By a significant 53-36 margin, Pew found Americans believed it was “important that the United States support people opposing authoritarian regimes.” Similarly, a plurality said that the US “had a moral obligation to do what it could to stop the violence” in Syria. However, huge majorities — 68-27 and 60-25, respectively — of those polled suggested the United States military was too burdened as is and that the rebels were not necessarily any better than the Assad government itself.

Despite the public opposition, Congressional leaders from both parties and both chambers have expressed their desire for President Obama to move forward with arming Syria’s rebels.