Most Americans no longer consider Cuba a threat to the United States but still mildly support the U.S. embargo, oppose diplomatic relations with Havana and dislike President Fidel Castro, a CNN/Time magazine polls shows.
The results of the poll, taken March 11-12 and released Friday, appear to undermine arguments that Cuban Americans alone still support the longtime U.S. policy of embargo and pressure on Castro.
Interviews with 1,018 adult Americans showed that those who consider Cuba a ``serious threat'' to the United States plummeted to 36 percent from 68 percent in 1983, several years before the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War. Those who consider Cuba ``no threat'' rose from 9 percent to 24 percent.
But Americans still showed ``mild'' support for the trade embargo imposed 35 years ago, CNN reported. Fifty-one percent favored it, down from 63 percent in a similar poll in 1961, and 38 percent opposed it, up from 23 percent in 1961.
A thin plurality also expressed opposition to resuming diplomatic relations with Havana, with 47 percent opposing it and 42 percent in favor, CNN announced. The poll has an error margin of three percentage points.
Castro himself got a 71 percent ``unfavorable'' rating and 6 percent ``favorable'' rating in the CNN poll, compared to 81 percent unfavorable and 2 percent favorable in a similar 1960 Gallup poll.
Cuban-American sentiments toward Havana are clearly stronger, with one Florida International University poll in 1995 showing that 84 percent of Cuban Americans favored tightening trade sanctions on Cuba, and a TV Channel 51 poll last October reporting that 77 percent favored the Helms-Burton Act.
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald