Nearly six in 10 Americans oppose unilateral United States missile strikes against Syria, a new poll has found.
The ABC News/Washington Post Poll found that even more Americans oppose arming the Syrian rebels - a complication for Barack Obama and proponents of military action in Congress alike.
Despite the United States' assertion that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in the civil war, 59 percent of the respondents oppose U.S. missile strikes, far more than the 36 percent who support them.
At the same time the poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, found that 70 percent of Americans oppose the United States and its allies supplying weapons to the Syrian rebels.
The poll found that a similar number of Democrats and Republicans alike oppose both unilateral U.S. air strikes and supplying arms to the opposition.
Nearly four in 10 Americans, 39 percent, 'strongly' oppose unilateral U.S. air strikes, as compared to 18 percent who strongly support them.
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In an ABC/Post poll in December, 73 percent of Americans said the United States should not get involved in the situation in Syria.
However, at that time, 63 percent said they'd favor military action if Syria used chemical weapons against its people. The new findings indicate a re-thinking of that view given the latest developments.