American views on Cuba soar

More Americans view Cuba favorably than unfavorably for the first time in nearly two decades, a new poll has found.

Nearly half of Americans — 48 percent — hold a very or mostly favorable view of Cuba, compared to 46 percent who view the country in negative terms, according a new Gallup poll released Thursday.

That is the highest percentage of Americans who have held a positive view of Cuba since Gallup starting polling on the topic in 1996.

For more than a decade, the isolated Communist nation’s favorability hung between 20 percent to 30 percent. It has seen a steady growth in popularity among Americans since 2006, according to Gallup’s data.

President Obama announced in December that the United States would move to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba for the first time in more than 50 years, an effort with strong support, according to polling.

The Obama administration has eased some trade and travel restrictions, though Republicans have promised not to fund a U.S. Embassy in Cuba and block confirmation of a U.S. ambassador to the country. The U.S. trade embargo on Cuba also remains in effect.

Gallup reports that 59 percent of Americans support lifting the decades-old embargo, while 29 percent of Americans stand opposed.

Nearly 6 in 10 Americans — 59 percent — support Congress ending the U.S. travel ban on travel to Cuba, compared to 30 percent opposed to such a move in the poll. Opposition to lifting the ban has ticked up 3 percentage points since 2009.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) led a delegation of House Democrats to Cuba this week to meet government officials, community leaders and others stationed in the country. U.S. and Cuban officials will hold a second round of talks next week on restoring relations.

The survey of 837 U.S. citizens on favorability toward Cuba was conducted Feb. 8-11 via telephone with a margin of error of 4 percentage points. On U.S. policy, Gallup polled 1,016 U.S. citizens Feb. 14-15 with the same margin of error.