39% Give Obama Good Marks on Libya

Now that anti-government rebels appear to have won in Libya, support for President Obama’s decision to aid them is up slightly, but voters are still dubious that the change will be better for the United States or the Libyan people.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 39% of Likely U.S. Voters now rate the Obama administration’s response to the situation in Libya as good or excellent.  That’s up six points from a month ago. and nearly as positive as the response following the president’s national television address explaining his on the topic.  Twenty-six percent (26%) view the president's response as poor. 

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of voters now agree with the president’s decision to take military action in Libya. Thirty-six percent (36%) still think it was a mistake and a sizable 25% still remain undecided.  (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Forty-five percent (45%) supported military action in Libya when Obama first announced it in mid-March.  But support for continuing that military effort had fallen to 20% by last month.

Only 30% of voters predict the change in government will be good for the United States. That’s down 12 points from 42% in early March.  Sixteen percent (16%) think the change will be bad for this country, while 27% expect it to have no impact. Another 27% are not sure.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on September 14-15, 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.