GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
Tuesday marks the fortieth anniversary of the Bay of Pigs mission, a failed attempt on the part of American-supported counter revolutionaries to spark a Cuban uprising against Communist leader Fidel Castro. The intervention attempt marked the first major foreign policy challenge for newly elected president John F. Kennedy. Now, some four decades later, Gallup polls show that a majority of Americans continue to have an unfavorable opinion of Cuba. A February Gallup poll found 68% of Americans have a very unfavorable or mostly unfavorable opinion of Cuba, while 27% say very or mostly favorable. The low point in Americans' opinion of Cuba came in 1996, when just 10% had a favorable opinion of the country.
The invasion failed to affect Castro's presidency, an office he still holds. Americans are generally aware of Castro's role in the Cuban government -- in March 1999, 73% of Americans correctly identified Castro as Cuba's leader, while 21% could not.
The United States does not currently have diplomatic relations with Communist Cuba. In an October 2000 poll, 56% of Americans said they would favor re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba, while 35% would not. Since 1974, when Gallup began asking this question, a consistent majority has favored the re-establishment of relations with Cuba. The lone exception came in 1996, when only 40% of the public said they were for it.
Kennedy's Job Approval Surged Following the Bay of
Pigs
It is not uncommon for presidents' job approval ratings to increase
after international crises. Following the Bay of Pigs invasion,
President Kennedy's job approval rating increased by five
percentage points, from 78% in an April 6-11 survey, to 83% in a
April 28-May 3 survey, both conducted in 1961.
Kennedy's job approval rating, as measured by Gallup, was usually at or above 70% during his presidency from 1961 to November 1963 -- making him the most popular U.S. president in Gallup history. Only three times during the course of his presidency did his job approval rating fall below 60%.
Survey Methods
These are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of at least 1,000 adults, 18 years and older, conducted February 1-4, 2001, October 25-28, 2000, March 19-21, 1999, April 6-11, and April 28-May 3, 1961. For results based on these samples, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
