PRINCETON, NJ-Americans are roughly split over the extent of the United States response to Cuba's recent downing of two private planes flown by American anti-Castro activists. About four in ten Americans interviewed in a new Gallup poll believe the response has been about right in its level of severity while a slightly higher percentage believe the government's response has not been strong enough.
Although the new sanctions adopted by the United States against Cuba have provoked much international criticism, Americans appear nearly unanimous in their belief that the U.S. response is not only correct but, if anything, not strong enough. Only 7% of Americans believe the U.S. actions are too strong.
The new Gallup poll finds Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives largely in agreement over the latest U.S. Cuban policy. The largest differences in opinion observed in the poll are on the basis of formal education: the higher the level of educational attainment, the more likely Americans are to believe the U.S. response was appropriate; the lower the level of education, the more likely Americans are to believe the response should have been stronger.
Cuba shot down the two U.S. private aircraft on February 24th. The Gallup poll conducted in early March suggests that Americans have been paying relatively close attention to news of the attack, with 22% of Americans say they have paid "very close" attention and an additional 47% say they have paid "somewhat close" attention. Only about one-third of respondents indicate they have paid little or no attention to the news about Cuba.
This level of attention is slightly lower than public attention paid to the U.S. intervention in Haiti in 1994, but is somewhat higher than attention paid to other recent international news events. By comparison with 69% paying close attention to the news of Cuba, a review of recent Gallup polls shows that 78% paid close attention to events in Haiti, 63% to the 1993 U.S. intervention in Somalia, and 55% to the 1995 situation in Bosnia.
Attentive watchers of the Cuba news story tend to want a stronger response than those paying less attention.
Americans' desire to penalize Cuba is not surprising, given their generally low opinion of that country. Public opinion of Cuba is nearly as low today as it was in the middle of the Cold War. Only 15% of Americans now have a favorable view of Cuba; 81% have an unfavorable view. This compares with 15% favorable, 77% unfavorable in 1976.
By comparison, China-the largest remaining Communist power-has substantially improved its reputation among Americans over the same time period, with 42% now holding a favorable view, up from 20% in 1973.
The results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 979 adults, 18 years and older, conducted March 8-10, 1996. For results based on samples of this size, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects could be plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.