Thirty-two percent (32%) of America’s Likely Voters say House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D) trip to the Middle East will help U.S. relations in the region. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 38% believe it will hurt U.S. relations in the region while 16% say it will have no impact

Not surprisingly, there is a huge partisan split on this point. By a 45% to 20% margin, Democrats tend to believe the trip will help. Republicans, by a 65% to 19% margin, say it will hurt. Those not affiliated with either major party are evenly divided.

Overall, Pelosi is viewed favorably by 47% of Americans and unfavorably by 43% (see trends for Pelosi and ratings for other Congressional Leaders).

While there is a less than enthusiastic perception of Pelosi’s trip, a plurality of Americans believe that Congressional fact finding trips are generally good for the nation. Forty-seven percent (47%) hold this view while 35% think it is “a bad idea for Members of Congress to make fact finding trips to other nations.”

Views concerning Syria are more pronounced. Just 5% of Americans consider Syria an ally of the United States while 29% consider that nation an enemy. Most (57%) believe it is somewhere in between. A Rasmussen Reports survey conducted in mid-November found that half (52%) of American adults believed that Syria and Iran should be included in the talks about the future of Iraq.

Half (51%) of American voters believe Syria supports terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbullah. Just 6% disagree, but 43% are not sure. Sixty-five percent (65%) of Republicans say that Syria supports such organizations while 54% of Democrats are not sure.

Rasmussen Reports provides regular updates on attitudes concerning the War on Terror and continuously updates favorability ratings and general election match-ups for all Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates. RR also maintains ratings for Members of Congress, Other Political Figures, and Journalists.

Rasmussen Reports releases updated polling data on the Republican nominating contest every Tuesday. Results for the Democrats are updated on Mondays.