Before Pearl Harbor, what percentage of Americans believed the US would stay out of the war?
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There aren't a lot of polls on this topic, but there are some. Here's some questions from the pre-war Gallup polls of 1941. I suggest looking at the raw data to understand the polls in context. I can see a slow thaw in public opinions (less resistance, although not always support) towards providing greater support in the European war effort even to the point of sending troops.
APRIL 27
EUROPEAN WAR
Interviewing Date 4/10-15/41
Survey #234-K Question #1a
Do you think the United States will go into the war in Europe sometime before it's over,
or do you think we will stay out of the war?
Will go in.......................... 82%
Will stay out....................... 18%
May 31
Interviewing Date 4/27-5/1/41
Survey #235-K Question #2
Do you think the United States will go into the war in Europe sometime before it is over,
or do you think we will stay out of the war?
We are already in................... 13%
We will go in....................... 64%
We will stay out.................... 14%
No opinion.......................... 9%
Also, since the USSR in the OP:
Has the new war between Germany and Russia changed your attitude toward helping Britain?
Yes................................. 12%
No.................................. 83%
Undecided........................... 5%
This isn't exactly what we want to know. But people at this time were well aware that lend-lease and other US aid to Britain could get the US involved in the war. Their entry made about 9% of respondents want to provide more aid to Britain, but over-all it doesn't seem to have had a large effect on popular opinion.
JAPAN, December 10, 1941? (I suspect this date is wrong, since the US declared war on Japan on December 8th).
Interviewing Date 11/27-12/1/41
Survey #254-K Question #4
Do you think the United States will go to war against Japan sometime in the near future?
Yes................................. 52%
No.................................. 27%
No opinion.......................... 21%
Upvote:0
The most interesting thing about the prewar polling is the US is how different the answers rapidly became to "do you think the US will get into the war" and "would you vote to enter the war." As suggest above, the former pretty quickly began to show a strong sense of resignation among citizens to eventual, full involvement in the war. In answer to the latter, however, I've never found any numbers even as high as 25% who would have voted to enter the war before the bombing Pearl Harbor.
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