Global poll gives world public a clean bill of mental health

A BBC World Service poll (.pdf) has found that "[s]upport for tough measures against Iran's nuclear program has fallen in 13 out of 21 countries."

Overall, out of more than 32,000 people questioned in 31 countries, "only 7% of those questioned...backed the idea of military strikes."

The second chart is a bit misleading in that it groups together 'sanctions' and 'military action' under the heading "Tougher measures". In fact there's virtually no support for military action anywhere outside Israel.

Here's the breakdown:

'In three countries a majority today favors economic sanctions or military strikes to deal with Iran. These include Israel (sanctions 37 per cent, strikes 34 per cent), the United States (sanctions 45 per cent, strikes 15 per cent) and South Korea (sanctions 48 per cent, strikes 5 per cent). Canadians are divided between a strong approach (sanctions 35 per cent, strikes 10 per cent) and softer approaches (diplomacy 42 per cent, no pressure 6 per cent). In all other countries, the weight of opinion is towards the less aggressive measures of using only diplomatic efforts or not pressuring Iran at all.

Support for allowing Iran to produce nuclear fuel for electricity, alongside a full program of UN inspections, is found not only in the US (55 per cent), Britain (71 per cent), and France (56 per cent), but also among Egyptians (86 per cent), Mexicans (79 per cent), Australians (64 per cent), Portuguese (59 per cent), Canadians (58 per cent), Italians (58 per cent), Kenyans (56 per cent), Indonesians (56 per cent) and Chinese (51 per cent). More modest support is found in Spain (49 per cent), Ghana (45 per cent), Nigeria (46 per cent), and Russia (33 per cent).

Majorities oppose the idea in Israel (62 per cent), Philippines (60 per cent), Turkey (54 per cent), Japan (54 per cent) and South Korea (51 per cent). Half of Germans are opposed as are 38 per cent of Central Americans.'

'On average 57 per cent favor diplomacy (43 per cent) or no pressure on Iran (14 per cent). Just one-in-three favor economic sanctions (26 per cent) or military strikes (8 per cent).'

Even in the U.S., despite the aggressive campaign of intimidation waged by the Bush administration, only 15% favour the idea of a military strike to halt Iran's nuclear programme. Remember, this is referring to military action authorised by the UN Security Council. It is safe to assume that had the question asked about unilateral military action, carried out by the U.S. and/or Israel, support would have dropped further still. In the UK support for military action has dropped to just 5%, while only 29% favour sanctions.

Cross-posted at The Heathlander