U.S. voters are evenly divided over whether the United States should lift its long-standing economic embargo of Cuba as President Obama prepares to meet with Latin American leaders this week in part to discuss U.S.-Cuban relations.

Thirty-six percent (36%) say the United States should lift its embargo on Cuba, but 35% disagree in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twenty-nine percent (29%) are not sure what to do about the ban on economic activity between the two countries that has been in place since 1962.

Pluralities of both Democrats (38%) and voters not affiliated with either party (46%) favor lifting the ban. Most Republicans (58%) take the opposite view.

Sixty-three percent (63%) of liberals say the embargo should be ended, but 54% of conservatives disagree. Investors are closely divided on the question.

Thirty-six percent (36%) regard Cuba as an enemy of the United States. Just three percent (3%) say it is an ally. For most voters (54%), Cuba falls somewhere in between.

Only nine percent (9%) of voters have a favorable view of longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who for health reasons formally stepped down last year and put his brother Raul in his place. But most still view Fidel Castro as the head of the country. Eighty-three percent (83%) have an unfavorable opinion of Fidel Castro, including 52% who view him very unfavorably.

Forty-five percent (45%) say life in Cuba will be better after Fidel Castro dies, but 14% disagree. Forty-one percent (41%) are undecided. Two years ago, 37% of Americans believed life in Cuba would improve after Castro’s death. Just 18% had a favorable opinion of the island nation 90 miles off the Florida coast.

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Obama is planning to travel to the Summit of the Americas on Friday in Trinidad to meet with Latin American leaders. He reportedly will discuss his desire to improve U.S. relations with Cuba, including the easing of travel and financial restrictions on the communist country. The president is pressing Cuba for democratic reforms before he takes any further steps to better relations.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll finds that President Obama’s Job Approval ratings have remained steady over the past month. Fifty-one percent (51%) give the president good or excellent marks on his handling of national security.

Most Republicans (58%) view Cuba as an enemy of the United States. Most Democrats (59%) and unaffiliated voters (66%) see that country as somewhere in between an ally and an enemy.

Similarly, while 51% of Republicans and 50% of unaffiliated voters say life in Cuba will be better after Castro dies, just 36% of Democrats agree.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of voters say they have followed news reports about Obama’s plan to ease travel and financial restrictions on Cuba, with 24% saying they have followed very closely. Thirty-eight percent (38%) say they are not following the news about Cuba very closely or at all.

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