WASHINGTON, May 31 (Xinhua) -- A majority of Americans believe the United States should not use military action to attempt to end the civil war in Syria even if all economic and diplomatic efforts fail, finds a poll released Friday.
Sixty-eight percent of Americans voiced opposition to U.S. military involvement in Syria, compared to 24 percent who favor such action to try to end the prolonged civil war in Syria, according to the Gallup poll conducted on May 28-29.
At the same time, 58 percent of Americans say they are not optimistic that the conflict in Syria will be solved through economic and diplomatic means, while 27 percent agree that such efforts will succeed, it shows.
Americans also pay less attention to the Syrian civil war, as the poll finds that less than half (49 percent) of respondents say they are following news about the conflict "very" or "somewhat" closely. This is below the historical average of 60 percent for more than 200 news events that Gallup has measured since 1992.
"Thus, Americans seem to have a clear preference for keeping the U.S. military out of the Syrian conflict, given their opposition to such involvement even though they expect that diplomatic efforts will fail to bring peace," Gallup said.
U.S. Senator John McCain, who visited Syria recently, has said he favors providing arms to the anti-government forces there. But so far the U.S. government remains wary of arming Syrian rebels, even after the European Union (EU) on Monday lifted its arms embargo on Syrian rebel forces.
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