APRIL 22, 1999
By Gilbert Le Gras
TORONTO, April 21 (Reuters) - A majority of Canadians and Americans believe the U.S. government should end its embargo of Cuba, according to a poll conducted for Reuters by Zogby Research Canada, released on Wednesday.
The Canada-U.S. poll of 1,211 Canadians and 1,016 U.S. citizens was taken from March 19 to 22 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percent.
A slightly larger proportion of Americans, 67.3 percent, said their government should end its 36-year-old trade embargo against the Caribbean-island republic. Some 66.7 percent of Canadians were of the same opinion, the Reuters/Zogby poll found.
The U.S. government imposed economic sanctions against Cuba in 1963 following the Cuban Missile Crisis and to apply financial pressure against President Fidel Castro's Communist government.
Most American economic transactions with Cuba are prohibited and offenders can be fined or imprisoned.
The U.S. government passed the Helms-Burton Law in 1996 to attempt to block foreign companies, including Canadians and Europeans, from investing in Cuba.
The Reuters/Zogby poll found a high level of affinity between the people on either side of the world's longest, undefended border.
Three-quarters of Canadians surveyed said they have a favorable overall opinion overall of the U.S. Twenty-two percent were very favorable and 53 percent somewhat favorable.
More than 81 percent of Americans have an overall favorable opinion of Canada - 40 percent very favorable and 41 percent somewhat favorable.
Seventeen percent of the Canadian respondents said they have an unfavorable opinion of the U.S. while only 5 percent of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Canada.
When asked for their estimation of the residents of the neighboring nation, Canadians had a slightly more favorable opinion toward Americans than toward the United States in general.
More than 80 percent of Canadians said they had a favorable opinion of the Americans, with 16 percent having an unfavorable opinion.
Across the border, 82 percent of Americans said they had a favorable opinion of Canadians with less than 3 percent stating they had an unfavorable opinion of their neighbors.
21:21 04-21-99
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited
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