Amid persistent speculation over a possible Israeli military attack against Iranian nuclear facilities in the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, a detailed new public opinion survey released Tuesday suggests that such a move would enjoy little support in the United States.

According to the survey by the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), only one in four U.S. respondents favors an Israeli strike, while nearly seven in 10 (69%), including a strong majority of Republicans (59%), said they prefer continuing negotiations with Tehran.

Only one in seven (14%) of the survey’s 727 respondents said they thought Washington should encourage an Israeli attack, while 80% said the U.S. should either discourage Israel from taking such a step (34%) or maintain a neutral position (46%).

And, consistent with their preference for diplomacy over military action, nearly three out of four respondents, including 69% of Republicans, said the U.S. should act primarily through the U.N. Security Council, rather than unilaterally, in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.

Meanwhile, a second public opinion poll released Tuesday by The New York Times and CBS News found a slight majority (51%) of 1,009 respondents who said they would support the U.S. taking military action in order to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

That poll, which did not offer an option for continued diplomacy or negotiations, found that 36% of respondents would oppose such a strike. The remaining 13% said they were unsure.

Asked what the U.S. should do if Israel conducted its own unilateral strike, a 47% plurality said Washington should support the Jewish state, 42% said it should “not get involved,” and only 1% said the U.S. should oppose it.

The two surveys were released just days after last week’s annual policy conference of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), whose 13,000 activist-attendees were addressed by Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, among other luminaries, before fanning out across Capitol Hill to lobby their elected representatives for a more-confrontational U.S. stance toward Iran and its nuclear program.

Top Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu during his visit to Washington, have been suggesting for several months they were prepared to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities some time this year unless Tehran agreed to abandon its nuclear program.

The Obama administration, on the other hand, has made clear, especially over the past three months, that unprecedented economic sanctions, combined with renewed negotiations with Iran by the so-called P5+1 (U.S., Britain, France, Russia, and China, plus Germany) should be given more time to reach a diplomatic settlement. Britain and France have also come out publicly during the past week against an Israeli strike.

It is not yet clear what was the impact, if any, of the AIPAC conference on popular attitudes.

More here:   http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/little-us-popular-supp...