Poll 3: Views on Foreign Policy, Regional Conflicts

A new University of Maryland poll found that a majority of Iranians continued to support sending their own military personnel to Syria. Half of Iranians said their country should increase support for Bashar al Assad’s government. About two thirds of respondents said Iran should seek to increase the role it plays in the region.

Iranians indicated mixed views of Turkey, China and Russia. They had largely positive views of Iraq, the Lebanese militia and political party Hezbollah, Syria and Germany. They had overwhelmingly negative views of ISIS and Saudi Arabia.

The telephone poll of 1,007 Iranians was conducted June 17–27, 2016, for Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland by IranPoll.com. The following is a rundown of key results on Iranian views of other countries and regional conflicts. 

VC1

 

VC2

 

Please indicate to what degree you have a favorable or an unfavorable view of each?

ISIS

  January 2016 June 2016
Very favorable 0.3% .2%
Somewhat favorable 0.2 .4
Somewhat unfavorable 0.8 1.2
Very unfavorable 97.8 97.6
DK/NA .9 .6

 

Saudi Arabia

  May 2015 January 2016 June 2016
Very favorable 8.3% 2.7% 2.1%
Somewhat favorable 18.6 7.5 7.2
Somewhat unfavorable 12.2 9.0 8.7
Very unfavorable 59.1 79.4 81.3
DK/NA 1.8 1.4 .6

 

 

VC3

 

 

VC4

In your opinion should Iran increase its support for the government of Bashar Assad in Syria, decrease it, or maintain it at the current level?

  March 2016 June 2016
Increase it 51.3% 49.6%
Decrease it 13.6 11.2
Maintain it at the current level 23.5 30.5
Other/depends 1.3 .7
DK/NA 10.2 8.0

 

Do you think Iran should or should not send military personnel to Syria to help the government of Bashar Assad?

  June 2016
Strongly approve 44.4%
Somewhat approve 39.3
Somehwat disapprove 7.2
Strongly disapprove 4.8
DK/NA 4.3

 

Do you mostly approve or mostly disapprove of Iran participating in international negotiations over the future of Syria?

  January 2016 March 2016 June 2016
Mostly approve 80.4% 81.7% 81.0%
Mostly disapprove 13.3 13.9 11.0
DK/NA 6.2 4.4 7.9

 

Do you think Iran should or should not try to use its influence with key players in Syria to help secure a lasting ceasefire between the government of Bashar Assad and members of the Syrian opposition that are not affiliated with terrorist groups like ISIS?

   
Iran should try 62.8%
Iran should NOT try 16.9
No such groups/opposition members exists 11.1
DK/NA 9.2

Click here for Poll 1: Iranian Views on Nuclear Deal

Click here for Poll 2: Iranian Views of the US

Click here for Poll 4: Domestic Politics and Issues

Click here for more information.