Americans split over military action on NKorea

Anti-North Korea protesters burn a mock North Korean missile at a protest to denounce the North's rocket launch in central Seoul April 6, 2009. North Korea has threatened to quit nuclear talks and restart its plant that makes plutonium if it is punished for launching a long-range rocket on Sunday that many powers saw as a disguised ballistic missile test. (Reuters Photo)

Anti-North Korea protesters chant slogans at a protest to denounce the North's rocket launch in central Seoul April 6, 2009. North Korea has threatened to quit nuclear talks and restart its plant that makes plutonium if it is punished for launching a long-range rocket on Sunday that many powers saw as a disguised ballistic missile test. (Reuters Photo)

Anti-North Korea protesters chant slogans at a protest to denounce the North's rocket launch in central Seoul April 6, 2009. North Korea has threatened to quit nuclear talks and restart its plant that makes plutonium if it is punished for launching a long-range rocket on Sunday that many powers saw as a disguised ballistic missile test. (Reuters Photo)

South Korean protesters attach pictures of North Korea leader Kim Jong Il on a street during a rally against North Korea's missiles near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 6, 2009. The U.S. and its allies sought to punish North Korea's defiant launch of a rocket that apparently fizzled into the Pacific, holding an emergency U.N. meeting to respond to an act that some believe was a long-range missile test. (AP Photo)

Americans are divided over whether the United States should take military action against North Korea in response to the isolated country's launch of a rocket over the weekend, an opinion poll showed Monday.

The CNN Opinion Research Corporation survey found that 51 percent were for military action by the United States against North Korea.

The poll was conducted April 3-5 before Pyongyang launched the rocket and respondents were therefore asked about North Korea's "plans to launch a missile."

North Korea announced Sunday that a long-range rocket had placed into orbit a communications satellite, but South Korea and the US military said a satellite never made it into space. A senior Russian military source also said there were no signs of a satellite.

Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, along with other nations, say the launch was a pretext to test a long-range Taepodong-2 missile in violation of United Nations resolutions.

In the poll, 52 percent of Americans said they had a "very unfavorable" opinion of North Korea, while 34 percent said they were "mostly unfavorable" and only 2 percent said they were "very favorable."

Some 25 percent of respondents said North Korea poses an "immediate threat" to the United States, up from 20 percent in October 2006, after the reclusive regime detonated a nuclear device.

But more Americans said the country was "not a threat at all," at 17 percent, up from 13 percent in 2006. North Korea is a "long-term threat," according to 58 percent of respondents, down from 64 percent in 2006.

Respondents were also asked about President Barack Obama's performance, nearly three months into the job, and about the contribution of US allies to the war in Afghanistan.

Obama's numbers remained steady, with 66 percent approval ratings, up slightly from the 64 percent he received in mid-March, but significantly down from his 76 percent approval rating in February 7-8, a little over two weeks after his inauguration.

Some 30 percent said they disapproved of how he was handling his job as president, down from 34 percent in March but up from the 23 percent he received in early February.

Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of those surveyed -- 78 percent -- said that US allies were "not doing enough" to "help the US military effort" in Afghanistan, where the war has been fought for over seven and a half years.

Only 20 percent of respondents said US allies were "doing enough."

The United States has some 38,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan, and has plans to increase the force to about 68,000 by the end of the year. Other foreign countries have about 32,000 troops stationed there.

The telephone survey of 1,023 adult Americans had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

(Agencies)