November 11, 2009, Washington, D.C. - The Public Affairs Alliance of
Iranian Americans (PAAIA) today released the findings of its second national
public opinion survey of Iranian Americans. The particular focus of this poll
is to gauge how the Iranian American community's perceptions and views may have
shifted following the historic events that occurred in Iran in the aftermath of
the disputed June 12th presidential election. More specifically, views of
Iranian Americans on issues such as recent developments in Iran, U.S.-Iran
relations, the Obama Administration's response to recent developments in Iran,
and the role, if any, that the Iranian Diaspora could or should play with
respect to developments in Iran, are explored in this survey.
Executive Summary
In August of 2008, the Public Affairs of Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA)
commissioned Zogby International to conduct a national public opinion survey of
Iranian Americans to gather, for the first time, accurate and timely information
about the demographics and views of the Iranian American community. The purpose
of the 2008 survey was to provide PAAIA with the knowledge required to more
effectively represent the Iranian American community, and to further inform and
educate the American public at large, as well as U.S. policy makers and opinion
makers about Iranian Americans.
Following the historic events that unfolded in Iran in the aftermath of the
disputed June 12th presidential election, PAAIA again commissioned Zogby
International to conduct a follow-up national survey of Iranian Americans to
gauge how their perceptions and views may have shifted as a result of these
events. This 2009 survey specifically explores the attitudes and views of
Iranian Americans on issues such as recent developments in Iran, U.S.-Iran
relations, the Obama Administration's response to recent developments in Iran,
and the role, if any, that the Iranian Diaspora and Iranian American community
or civic organizations could or should play with respect to developments in
Iran. This survey's margin of error is +/- 5%.
The most important findings of this 2009 public opinion survey of Iranian
Americans are summarized below.
I. Ties between Iranian Americans and Iran remain strong.
Over the past year, the importance of ethnic
heritage to Iranian Americans has remained unchanged, with eighty-five
percent (85%) believing their heritage is either very important or somewhat
important.
More than six in ten Iranian Americans have
immediate family members in Iran, and almost three in ten communicate with
their family or friends in Iran at least several times a week. An
additional four in ten communicate with their family or friends in Iran at
least several times a month. The foregoing indicates an unusually close
relationship between Iranian Americans and the people of Iran.
II. Iranian Americans closely followed post-election events in Iran, feel
the presidential election was not free and fair, generally approve of the Obama
Administration's handling of the crisis, and favor negotiations and peaceful
change within Iran.
Since 2008 there has been a slight uptick in
the percentage of Iranian Americans who say they follow the news from Iran
closely (85%, up from 78%). More specifically, eighty-six percent (86%)
followed news about the recent presidential election closely, including
fifty-nine percent (59%) who followed it very closely.
Eighty-seven percent (87%) of respondents do
not believe the Iranian presidential election was free and fair.
Half of all Iranian Americans surveyed (50%)
believe the Obama Administration was right to 'keep the American government
from meddling in the Iranian election or interfering with the election
protestors.' In contrast, one-third (35%) believe the Obama administration
should have been more actively involved, providing greater support to the
protestors.
Only five percent (5%) of Iranian Americans
favor U.S. military action against Iran, while fifty percent (50%) support
diplomatic negotiations. This is an indication that most Iranian Americans
still support a peaceful approach in U.S. policy toward Iran. Forty-two
percent (42%) of Iranian Americans also believe promotion of regime change
would be in the best interests of the United States.
III. Recent events in Iran appear to have changed, at least for the time
being, the prevailing focus of the Iranian American community and attitudes
toward the type of civic organizations they may join and support.
The recent electoral crisis in Iran appears
to have brought about a considerable shift in the issues that Iranian
Americans identify as their most important concerns. In 2008, a majority of
Iranian Americans (54%) cited a range of domestic U.S. issues as being most
important to them. In our 2009 survey, however, fifty-three percent (53%)
of respondents cited either foreign policy issues involving U.S.-Iran
relations (33%) or the internal affairs of Iran (20%) as being their most
important concerns. In contrast, thirty-eight percent (38%) of respondents
in 2009 cited either domestic issues that are not unique to the Iranian
American community such as health care and education (22%) or domestic
Iranian American issues such as civil rights (16%), as being most important
to them.
As a result of this changed focus, when
asked to name what they expect the two main goals of an Iranian American
organization should be, a majority (59%) view 'promoting democracy and human
rights in Iran' as the most important goal. Other goals, like improving the
image of Iranian Americans (34%) and working within the community to
increase their political influence (24%) and preserve their culture (22%),
rank next in order. There is less support for influencing U.S. policy
toward Iran (17%).
When presented with three distinct types of
Iranian American community or civic organizations, each with different
goals, the type of organization eliciting the highest interest (about one in
three) was one whose major objective is 'the promotion of human rights and
democracy in Iran'. That said, about one in four Iranian Americans also
indicated that they would join or support Iranian American organizations
focused on either 'domestic issue of Iranian Americans in the U.S.,' or on
'advocating U.S. foreign policy on Iran.'
