IRAN - The Public View 6/29/2009

"Poll: Americans Don’t Want To Intervene In Iran And Approve Of Obama Comments" by JOE GANDELMAN, The Moderate Voice

A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll provides yet another example of how the talk radio political culture is outside the country’s emerging political center: it basically finds strong support for the Obama administration’s non-intervention stand in the Iranian election as well as President Barack Obama’s comments that have been soundly blasted by conservatives and on radio and cable talk radio:

A new national poll suggests that that nearly three out of four Americans don’t want the U.S. directly intervene in the election crisis in Iran even though most Americans are upset by how the Iranian government has dealt with protests over controversial election results.

More than eight in ten questioned in the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, released Monday, think the election results released by the Iranian government were a fraud, with just one in ten believing the results were accurate. But only three in ten respondents say they are personally outraged by the results, with another 55 percent upset by not outraged.

Most Americans approve of how President Obama’s handled the situation. And 74 percent think the U.S. government should not directly intervene in the post-election crisis, with one out of four feeling that Washington should openly support the demonstrators who are protesting the election results.

This underscores a fact of the modern media, if you including within that definition the old mainstream media (newspapers, traditional broadcast, news magazines) and new media (cable and talk radio, blogs, etc.): anger and outrage are at a premium and it gets readerships and viewership.

But so far a steady stream of polls suggests that Obama is either reflecting or influencing the country’s political middle. His winning election coalition continues to support him. It’s basically comprised of Democrats, independent voters (who are not monolithic but more support him then don’t even thought his support from this group has suffered some erosion), and some Republicans turned off by some things about their own party. Those Republicans are often more moderate Republicans.

The group most marginalized in this? Conservative Republicans allied with the talk radio political culture. The CNN poll shows this trend again:

“Some 56 percent say that Obama’s criticism of the Iranian regime has been about right. Only a third say that he has not gone far enough in his comments about the situation in Iran,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “If the number who are outraged by what’s going on Iran were higher, we would probably see a higher number of Americans who say that Obama has not been tough enough on the leaders of that country.”

“Interestingly, older Americans are more likely to be outraged. They may have bitter memories of the American hostages held by Iran for more than a year in 1979 and 1980,” said CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider.

This trend (and coalition) may not persist throughout Obama’s term, but it is relatively steady — as is Obama’s high approval rating:

A new national poll indicates that President Barack Obama’s approval rating among Americans remains steady.

Sixty-one percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday say they approve of how Obama’s handling his duties as president. Thirty-seven percent disapprove.

The 61 percent approval rating is down one point from May and down six points from February.

“Since March, Obama’s approval rating has gone down one percentage point each month in CNN polls,” notes CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “In March it was 64 percent; in April it was 63 percent. Last month his approval rating stood at 62 percent and now it is at 61 percent.”

The poll suggests when it comes to opinions of Obama, gender and generation gaps continue.

Sixty-seven percent of women questioned in the survey approve of how Obama’s handling his job as president. That number drops to 54 percent among men. Two-thirds of people under 50 years old questioned in the poll approve of the president’s handling of his duties. That number drops to 54 percent among people over 50 years of age.