Iranians Favor Diplomatic Relations With US But Have Little Trust in Obama

September 19, 2009

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of Iranians finds that six in 10 favor restoring diplomatic relations with the United States, a stance at odds with the policy the Iranian government has held for three decades. A similar number favor direct talks.

However, Iranians do not appear to share the international infatuation with Barack Obama. Only 16 percent have confidence in him to do the right thing in world affairs, the lowest of 20 countries polled. Despite his recent speech in Cairo, where Obama stressed that he respects Islam, only a quarter of Iranians are convinced he does. And 77% have an unfavorable view of the current US government.

"While the majority of Iranian people are ready to do business with Obama, they show little trust in him," says Steven Kull, director of WPO. At the same time, there are some signs of softening. Trust in Obama is three times higher than it was in George W. Bush in 2008. Unfavorable views of the US government are down 8 points from 2008. On Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, eight in 10 Iranians say they consider him to be the country's legitimate president.

Most Iranians continue to believe that it is not really a goal of the United States to bring about an independent Palestinian state, but the number believing that it is a goal has doubled to 25 percent--suggesting that Obama's efforts to stop Israeli settlements may have made some impact. Also attitudes toward the American people are largely positive, with 51 percent of those polled expressing favorable feelings toward Americans (13 percent very favorable).

Asked about the prospect of "Iran cooperating with the US to combat the Taliban operating in Afghanistan near Iran's border," a substantial 43 percent favor doing so, while 41 percent are opposed.

And fairly small numbers of Iranians say they support attacks on US troops in Afghanistan (26%) as well as the Persian Gulf (32%).

WorldPublicOpinion.org (WPO) conducted the poll of 1,003 Iranians across Iran between Aug. 27 and Sept. 10, 2009. Interviewing was conducted by a professional survey organization located outside Iran which used native Farsi speakers. The margin of error is 3.1 percent. WPO, a collaborative project involving research centers from around the world, is managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.

SOURCE Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland