A military strike against Syria is opposed by 80% of Portuguese people, according to the international inquiry ‘Transatlantic Trends 2013’, which reveals that the majority of European and American citizens also prefer a peaceful solution to the Syrian dispute.
Only 30% of Americans supported a military strike in Syria and only 22% in Europe supported the use of force in the Western Asian country.
The inquiry was conducted between June 3-27, before the alleged chemical attack in Damascus, which killed hundreds of people and is said to have been launched by the government.
At one point in the inquiry, participants had to choose between two sentences: “Stability is more important, even if it means accepting a non-democratic government” or “Democracy is more important even if it leads to a period of instability”.
The opinions from Portuguese participants were torn, with each phrase receiving 47% of votes. Six percent chose not to answer.
Most Europeans (58%) chose democracy over stability, while the majority of Americans differed and chose stability (53%).
The survey was carried out by ‘TSN Opinion’ in the United States of America, Turkey and 11 members of the European Union: France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
