WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In contrast, nearly one third of Americans, or 28 percent, support democracy building in such countries, the poll showed.
"Fifty-eight percent (58 percent) say the United States should leave things alone," Rassmussen Reports said of the efforts by the US government to promote democracy in Islamic countries.
Democracy-building initiatives, combined with the policy of "regime change" in nations with governments that the United States opposes, has been a centerpiece of US foreign policy dating back at least to the administration of President Bill Clinton.
Examples include the US invasion of Iraq and subsequent efforts to organize a Western-style democracy, which many foreign policy experts blame for the rise of the Daesh, among other terror groups. Despite a similar US effort in Afghanistan, the Taliban now controls more territory than when the United States invaded the country in 2002.
US support for the ouster of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and Washington's unequivocal support for the so-called "Arab spring," is also blamed by many analysts for fomenting the rise of the Daesh and numerous other Islamic terrorist organizations.
Today, the Obama administration’s focus on ousting Syrian President Bashar Assad is often criticized for hampering its efforts to destroy the Islamic State, since Syrian forces backed by Russian air strikes have arguably proved more effective that a hodgepodge of US-backed allegedly moderate Islamic groups.
US attempts at democracy promotion and regime change have extended to other parts of the world, most notably to the Balkans, where the United States at present is engaged in attempts to change the legitimate government of Macedonia by supporting Islamic Albanian extremists as well as opposition parties and non-governmental groups, according to Macedonian media reports.
