Last Updated on March 24, 2006 by Paulette Brown-Hinds

Seven in Ten Likely Voters Back No-Fly Zone, Say U.S. Has a Responsibility to Stop Darfur Killings

Ending the killing in the Sudan is a U.S. responsibility, according to a majority of likely voters in the latest Zogby America poll of 1,007 likely voters nationwide.

The poll finds three in five likely voters saying the U.S. has a responsibility to end the slaughter in the Sudan's Darfur region, while seven in ten back imposing a no-fly zone to prevent Sudanese planes from bombing civilians.

The poll of likely voters, conducted March 14 through 16, finds 59% of U.S. voters believe more can be done diplomatically to end the crisis in the Sudan, while just o­ne in four (24%) disagree.  There is even stronger support for limited military action, with 70% backing creation of a U.S.-enforced no-fly zone over the African nation.

The call for U.S. action to resolve the three-year-old crisis is consistent across the nation. Support is nearly uniform in both the Republican leaning “Red States” and their Democrat-leaning “Blue State” counterparts. And while African-Americans and voters under the age of 30 are the most likely to say the U.S. has a responsibility to end the mass killings in the western region of the Sudan, both groups are a bit less likely than their peers to back imposition of a no-fly zone.

Republicans seem more ready to embrace direct action to end the humanitarian crisis, with 75% supporting a no-fly zone, compared to 68% of Democrats; Democrats, meanwhile, back further diplomatic action in greater numbers than Republicans, with 66% saying more can be done o­n the diplomatic front, compared to 50% of their GOP counterparts. In both instances, independents track closer to the Democratic viewpoint. Women and men in the poll register similar levels of agreement o­n both agreeing greater responsibility for ending the crisis lies with the U.S. and in their belief that more diplomatic efforts are needed. Among men, 74% embrace controlling Sudanese airspace, compared to 66% of women who agree.

The nationwide telephone poll of 1,007 likely voters, conducted March 14 through 16, has a margin of error of ± 3.2 percentage points.