Public opinion is shifting on US involvement in Syria

Recent polls indicate that public opinion on US military action in Syria seems to be shifting after President Donald Trump launched a strike last week against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The strike, on a Syrian airfield and nearby military infrastructure, was in response to the Syrian president's use of chemical weapons against civilians in one of the worst attacks in that country's civil war in years.

A new Morning Consult/Politico poll showed that 57% of Americans support airstrikes in Syria, 58% support establishing a no-fly zone over parts of Syria including strikes against Syria's air defense systems, and 63% of Americans thought the US should do more to end the Syrian conflict. Even more, 66% of respondents said they supported the Trump administration's strike last week specifically.

This mirrored results of another recent poll from CBS News in which 57% of Americans said they approved of last week's strike.

The recent polls hint at changing American thought on involvement in Syria.

In 2013, after another brutal chemical weapons attack from the Assad regime, only 36% of Americans said they favored the US taking military action to reduce the Syrian government's ability to use chemical weapons. Gallup noted that it was "among the lowest" figure of support "for any intervention Gallup has asked about in the last 20 years."

In another Gallup poll from earlier that year, before the Assad regime's chemical weapons attack, 68% of Americans said they opposed military action to end the Syrian conflict even if "all economic and diplomatic efforts fail."

The shift in opinion from past years might be attributable to the new US president. The Morning Consult/Politico poll shows that 57% of Americans think Trump can end the Syrian civil war that is now dragging into its sixth year. Respondents said they trust Trump to end the conflict more than they trust Congress and the United Nations.

Much of this support comes from Republicans - 82% of them told Morning Consult/Politico that they were confident that Trump could handle Syria.

Despite the support for targeted airstrikes and other means of bringing the conflict to an end - like diplomacy and economic sanctions - support is split on escalating military action. Only 39% of Americans said in the Morning Consult/Politico poll that they support using US ground troops to topple the Assad regime, and only 44% support using them to fight terrorist forces in the country.

CBS found even less support for more direct military involvement - only 18% of respondents said they support ground troops, and only 30% said they support airstrikes with no ground troops.

It's unclear what Trump's next move in Syria will be. Administration officials have said their position on the Assad regime has not changed - that they oppose the use of chemical weapons but have no plans to force him from power.