A Pew poll released September 6 found that more republicans blame the USA's US support for Israel for international discontent with the US, 48% to 45%.
The poll also found that Republicans attribute anti-american opinion around the world on "America's wealth and Power." Democrats and Independents both attributed it to the Iraq war.
The poll reports,
Five years later, Americans' views of the impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have changed little, but opinions about how best to protect against future attacks have shifted substantially. In particular, far more Americans say reducing America's overseas military presence, rather than expanding it, will have a greater effect in reducing the threat of terrorism.
in 2002 a 58% majority felt that military strikes against nations developing nuclear weapons were a very important way to reduce future terrorism. Today, just 43% express the same level of support for such action.
Yet most Americans do not believe that the ability of terrorists to launch another attack against the U.S. has been diminished. Rather, 62% say terrorists' capabilities are the same (37%) or greater (25%) than they were at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. This view has remained stable since the summer of 2002.
Opinions about how to deal with terrorism have changed over this period. An increasing number of Americans see nonmilitary approaches such as decreasing U.S. dependence on Middle East oil and avoiding involvement with the problems of other countries as effective in this regard. Fully two-thirds (67%) say that decreasing America's dependence on oil from the Middle East is a very important step in preventing terrorism the highest percentage for any option tested. A year after the attacks, about half of Americans (53%) saw this as a very important way to reduce future terrorism.
The poll as conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Aug. 9-13 among 1,506 adults.
