Washington: Albeit with a slim margin, majority of Americans support the new Af-Pak policy of US President Barack Obama which was announced by him early this week, a national opinion poll said on Friday.
According to the USA Today/Gallup Poll taken on Wednesday – a day after Obama announced his new policy – 51 percent of the respondent supported the new Afghanistan policy of the US President, while 40 percent disapproved it.
The overall 51 percent positive reaction to the new policy is slightly higher than the 47 percent who in a November poll supported the basic concept of increasing troops in Afghanistan, Gallup said.
However, there is little consensus in favour of his specific decisions to deploy 30,000 more US troops or to set a timetable to begin their withdrawal in 2011, USA Today said.
"It suggests that people are willing to give this president fairly wide latitude in developing the policy that he thinks is best," Democratic pollster Mark Mellman was quoted as saying. "They trust him," he said.
Overall, Americans are split on the troop-level component. Most believe that the number of new troops being sent as part of the new strategy is either too high (36 percent) or about right (38 percent).
Relatively few Americans believe the number of more troops is "too low" (18 percent), the poll revealed.
Regarding the timetable component of Obama's new policy, the plurality of Americans, 46 percent say it is too soon to set a timetable for beginning to withdraw troops.
PTI
First Published: Friday, December 04, 2009, 13:48