The Times Poll : Americans Favor Hands-Off Policy

A majority of Americans believe that the United States should not be trying to influence events in the Philippines, and 56% oppose cutting off foreign aid to that nation, the Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

Asked whether the U.S. government should continue its aid to avoid harming the Filipino people or cut off economic support to show its displeasure with President Ferdinand E. Marcos, only 30% of the public supported ending aid to the Philippines.

Although most Americans acknowledged they are not well-informed about the Philippines, a vast majority of the public is convinced that the recent Filipino election was tainted by fraud and corruption, and two-thirds believe that Aquino really won the most votes.

Even before rebel military elements mutinied in a move to force Marcos from the presidency, the overwhelming majority of Americans were convinced that Marcos’ rule was coming to an end, and only 10% of the American public thought Marcos could remain in control. About 55% of all Americans believed that Marcos would be forced out of office in less than a year.

The Times Poll was conducted by telephone from Thursday, Feb. 20, through Sunday, Feb. 23. The first information about the military rebellion in the Philippines was reported in the United States on Saturday and was widely disseminated by newspapers Sunday morning.

Americans were divided over how President Reagan had handled the crisis in the Philippines up until then. In contrast to the strong 54% approval for Reagan’s handling of overall foreign policy, only 31% approved of his handling of the situation in the Philippines.

But only 28% specifically disapproved of Reagan’s handling of the Filipino crisis, with a total of 41% of those surveyed saying they were either unaware or not sure of their attitude about Reagan’s policy toward the nation that contains the two largest American military bases outside the United States.

Neutral Wishes

Perhaps because most think Marcos’ downfall is inevitable anyway, only 9% of the American public said that the U.S. government should support Corazon Aquino, the opposition presidential candidate who claims she was cheated of victory by Marcos and his supporters. There was even less sentiment in favor of trying to prop up Marcos. Nearly half the public--44%--wanted the government to remain neutral.

On Monday morning, however, the Reagan Administration issued a strong statement calling on Marcos to give up power in the Philippines to avoid further violence. Worried that Marcos might launch a bloody attempt to crush the relatively peaceful rebellion, the White House abandoned its position that it would not take sides in the conflict.

Significantly, those surveyed over the weekend were increasingly convinced that Marcos could not remain in power much longer, with 56% of those who responded on Saturday and 63% of the Sunday respondents saying that Marcos had less than a year to go. Earlier in the survey, only half of those polled gave Marcos less than a year remaining.

And by Sunday, 53% of the public said Marcos could not survive in power more than a few months, compared with an average of 35% of those questioned during the first two days of the poll who felt the same way.

Response From 1,763

A total of 1,763 people responded to the survey, which was conducted by Times Poll director I.A. Lewis.

The more a person knew about the situation in the Philippines, the more likely he or she was to favor a more active effort by the Reagan Administration to topple Marcos.

Of the one-third of respondents who considered themselves well-informed about the situation, 40% favored cutting off U.S. aid to the Philippines, compared with 30% of the general public, and 49% supported the United States using its influence versus 34% for all Americans.

At the same time, much greater numbers of the well-informed--a group that included both a higher proportion of Republicans and greater representation of liberals compared with the general public--thought the election was stolen by Marcos.

More than eight out of 10 of the well-informed said that Aquino had really won the most votes, compared with the 66% of all Americans who said that Aquino was the legitimate winner.

The sampling error for the poll was plus or minus 3%, meaning that the results could vary an estimated three percentage points either way if every American was asked the same questions.

U.S. AID TO THE PHILIPPINES

“Do you think the United States should cut off foreign aid to the Philippines in order to show our displeasure with President Marcos, or do you think the United States should continue aid so as not to hurt the Philippine people?” According to the extent of respondent’s information about events in the Philippines.

Well- Not well- Informed Informed Total CUT OFF AID 40% 22% 30 CONTINUE AID 52% 50% 56 DON’T KNOW 8% 28% 14