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U.S. Split on Rapport with Three Countries
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Adults in the United States are divided on whether their next president should engage in talks with the leaders of three nations, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 42 per cent of respondents want their next head of state to meet with the leaders of Iran, Syria and North Korea without any preconditions, while 34 per cent disagree.
Iran and North Korea were branded as part of an "axis of evil" by U.S. president George W. Bush in January 2002. Iran has contended that its nuclear program aims to produce energy, not weapons. In June 2005, former Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won Iran's presidential election in a run-off over Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani with 61.6 per cent of all cast ballots.
Kim Jong-il has been the de-facto leader of North Korea since the death of his father, Kim Il Song, in 1994. In 2005, the government of North Korea admitted publicly for the first time that it possesses nuclear weapons. In February, North Korea reached an agreement with the U.S. under the framework of the six-party talks that will result in the suspension of its nuclear weapons program in exchange for one million tonnes of fuel oil, economic assistance, and humanitarian aid.
In April, U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Syria and met with Syrian president Bashar Assad. U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney said Pelosi's trip sent "mixed signals about the policies and the intentions of the United States."
On Jun. 23, during a televised debate of Democratic Party presidential hopefuls, Illinois senator Barack Obama said he would be willing to meet with specific foreign leaders, adding, "The reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them—which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration—is ridiculous."
New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton disagreed, saying, "I will not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries during my first year. I will promise a very vigorous diplomatic effort because I think it is not that you promise a meeting at that high a level before you know what the intentions are." Former North Carolina senator John Edwards agreed with Rodham Clinton, declaring, "Before that meeting takes place, we need to do the work, the diplomacy, to make sure that that meeting's not going to be used for propaganda purposes. (...) The world needs to hear from the president of the United States about who we are, what it is we represent."
Original Release from Rasmussen Reports
Polling Data
Should the next U.S. president meet with the leaders of Iran, Syria and North Korea, without any preconditions, during his or her first year as president?
Yes | 42% |
No | 34% |
Not sure | 24% |
Source: Rasmussen Reports
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 American adults, conducted on Jul. 25 and Jul. 26, 2007. Margin of error is 4 per cent.