American Public Opposes Action in Syria and North Korea

While the public does not support direct military action in those two countries right now, a broad 70 percent majority favor the use of remotely piloted aircraft, or drones, to carry out bombing attacks against suspected terrorists in foreign countries.

Interest in the Syrian conflict has waned, with 39 percent of those surveyed saying they are following the violence closely, a 15-percentage-point drop since a CBS News poll conducted in March, before the Boston Marathon bombings.

Sixty-two percent of the public say the United States has no responsibility to do something about the fighting in Syria between government forces and antigovernment groups, while just one-quarter disagree. Likewise, 56 percent say North Korea is a threat that can be contained for now without military action, just 15 percent say the situation requires immediate American action and 21 percent say the North is not a threat at all.

Louis Brown, 50, a poll respondent from Springfield Township, Ohio, described Syria and North Korea in a follow-up interview as “political hotbeds.” In his view, “we don’t need additional loss of American lives right now.”

Instead, Mr. Brown said he thought that now was the time to “concentrate on our own backyard,” and he cited the economy as the most important problem facing the country. Mr. Brown said Congress and President Obama should “address the economic situation in the country and stop infighting.”

Many Americans agree with Mr. Brown as the economy and jobs continue to top the list of the most important problems facing the country while foreign policy issues barely register. Four in 10 Americans cite the economy and jobs as the most important problems facing the country, while only 1 percent named foreign policy.

Another poll respondent, Pat Bates, 63, of Parkville, Mo., said she would “hate to see us trot into yet another country and try to fix things when we’re not quite sure what we’re doing.” She went on to say that “we’ve certainly got enough to keep us busy here without sending our young people over somewhere again.”

The nationwide telephone survey was conducted on both land lines and cellphones with 965 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. More results will be released at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on nytimes.com.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/world/american-public-opposes-action-in-syria-and-north-korea.html?partner=rss&emc=rss