US voters split on Mideast involvement, poll shows

With the US struggling to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and nuclear talks with Iran working under a four-month extension, US voters express more confidence than they did last year that US involvement in the Middle East is good for both the region and the United States. In a poll released Monday morning, Rasmussen polling discovered that Americans are evenly split as to whether US involvement in the region is good or bad for stability.

The pollsters noted that “voters have long expressed little enthusiasm for getting more involved in Middle East politics, but they are slightly less likely to think this involvement hurts both the region and the United States.”

The poll, conducted last week, found that thirty-two percent of likely US voters now believe that US involvement in Middle Eastern politics hurts stability in that region — down five points from 37% last August. At the same time, the poll found a six point increase – from 25% to 31% — of likely voters who believe that US involvement helps stability in the Middle East.

Twenty-two percent (22%) believe US involvement has no impact on that region, while 15% more aren’t sure. The margin of error for the poll was three percentage points, meaning that while the optimists and the pessimists remain in a dead heat, the relative increases and decreases are outside of the margin of error.

— Rebecca Shimoni Stoil