76% Say It’s Good for America When Dictators Replaced by Leaders Chosen in Free Elections
From the beginning of the American experiment, people in the United States have viewed the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence as a guiding light to the world. Just as importantly, Americans tend to think our nation will be better off if others follow that example.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that's still the case as 76% of Likely U.S. Voters believe that it’s generally good for America when dictators in other countries are replaced with leaders selected in free and fair elections. Just five percent (5%) disagree, and 19% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
This belief cuts across all partisan, demographic and ideological lines.
Applying pragmatism and caution to the situation in Egypt where dictator Hosni Mubarak just resigned, Americans aren’t sure if the outcome will be good or bad for the United States, but 68% say our nation should not get directly involved.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on February 6-7, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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