Eighty-eight percent of Americans surveyed say they approve of the current U.S. military actions. And 54 percent say they believe the government has a well-thought out plan for fighting bioterrorism and other domestic threats–up from forty-six percent in last week’s NEWSWEEK poll.
Today, in a speech before the U.N. General Assembly meeting, Bush thanked U.N. allies for their sympathy after the Sept. 11 attacks but urged them to step up their efforts as well, saying, “The time for action has now arrived.” Americans seem to agree. The vast majority (eighty-one percent) say Great Britain is doing enough to help U.S.-led efforts. But only ten percent say the same about Iran, though president Mohammad Khatami has voiced sympathy for the victims of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and strongly denounced Osama bin Laden as a fanatical extremist.
Forty-three percent of respondents say Israel has not done enough to help, and two-thirds say the same about the Palestinian leadership. Americans seem split about Pakistan, with forty-six percent saying the country is not doing enough, while thirty-nine percent approve of its efforts. Just over half the respondents (fifty-one percent) feel Russia has provided enough help.
Nearly two-thirds (sixty-four percent) of those polled say that Saudi Arabia is doing enough to help the U.S. in its war against terrorism–a whopping turnaround from a week ago, when just twenty-four percent said the Saudis’ efforts were adequate. And a wide majority of Americans (eighty-three percent) say it is very important in the fight against terrorism that the U.S. put more pressure on Saudi Arabia to share more intelligence information to help identify terrorist and their financial means of support.
Nearly three-quarters (seventy-three percent) say the United States should develop new energy sources to diminish its dependence on Mideast oil supplies–an increase from sixty-four percent a week earlier. Though fifty-four percent say the U.S. economy would likely suffer short-term damage, they believe it would eventually return to normal if the country adopted policies that would increase the price of oil and encourage a shift to alternative energy sources. Eighty-four percent say they would favor increasing government funding for research and development of alternative energy sources. However, most (fifty-nine percent) oppose building more nuclear power plants as an alternative energy source, saying they are too vulnerable to terrorist attacks or would not provide the type of energy we need (including fuel for cars).
Americans also support developing more energy-efficient cars, with half saying they would “seriously consider” buying or leasing a hybrid-powered car. Seventy-three percent support tax breaks to encourage the purchase of hybrid gas and electric cars and seventy-two percent say they’d support changing federal regulations to require sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to meet the same fuel economy standards as regular cars.
For this NEWSWEEK Poll, Princeton Survey Research Associates interviewed by telephone 1,001 adults aged 18 and older on Nov. 8 and 9. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.
