Public Divided as to Whether New President Should Meet with Heads of Iran, Syria, North Korea

July 27, 2007

Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say that the next President should meet with the heads of nations such as Iran, Syria, and North Korea without setting any preconditions. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 34% disagree while 24% are not sure.

That question came up during last Monday’s Presidential Debate with Illinois Senator Barack Obama saying he would commit to such meetings and New York Senator Hillary Clinton offering a more cautious response. Democrats, by a 55% to 22% margin, agree with Obama. Clinton and Obama continue to dominate the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

However, just 34% of all Americans (and 34% of Democrats) know that Obama made such a commitment. Eleven percent (11%) of all Americans and 14% of Democrats believe the commitment was made by Clinton. Even that level of recognition is probably due more to news coverage of the topic rather than the debate itself. Only 2.6 million Americans watched the debate. Overall, 15% of adults nationally believe the debates are exciting while 58% say they’re boring.

Twenty-four percent (24%) know that Clinton refused to commit to such meetings while 7% believe that Obama was the candidate to do so.

Republicans tend to oppose meetings with the leaders of nations such as Iran, North Korea, and Syria. Those not affiliated with either major party are evenly divided.

A separate release shows that 28% of Americans trust Clinton more than any other candidate on national security matters. Republican Rudy Giuliani is second at 20%. Overall, the public is divided between Republicans and Democrats generically on national security issues, but Democrats are overwhelmingly preferred on a wide variety of topics.

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