Poll Numbers Show How Americans Feel About Mideast Conflict
BLITZER: Welcome back to THE SITUATION ROOM. We're following breaking news out of the Middle East. As you saw if you were watching THE SITUATION ROOM live only moments ago, more rockets coming into northern Israel, artillery shells pounding south Lebanon. Let's go to the Israeli border with Lebanon. Matthew Chance once again on the scene. For viewers Matthew who are just tuning in, we saw, we heard those explosions just moments ago. Describe what it felt like.</s>CHANCE: Well, it was very frightening first and foremost, Wolf, because in this situation right on the Israeli Lebanese border, it's difficult to judge which direction the rounds are coming from. Because there is such a fierce exchange that's been underway, not just in the last few hours, but in the last few weeks between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters. Ferocious artillery barrage, tank fire going in one direction, rockets pounding towns and cities across from Hezbollah positions in northern Israel in the other direction. Indeed, over the course of this day alone, there have been more than 200 Hezbollah rockets striking northern Israel. Indeed, a number of those rockets, two or three, according to the police, striking the town of Hadera, about 25 miles north of Tel-Aviv, the furthest south any Hezbollah rocket has so-far reached. Another grim landmark in this conflict Wolf.</s>BLITZER: We're showing our viewers live pictures from the streets of Hadera. It's approaching, what, about 11:20 p.m. local time over there. We see cars in the street, people mulling around. It looks almost like business as usual, but it's anything but. I suspect, having been there last week, people are beginning to think about leaving Hadera and moving further south.</s>CHANCE: Well, I expect they are. Certainly people further north like where I'm talking to you now and in other towns as well, like Kiryat Shmona, people have already made that decision. Many of them are, of course, sheltering in bunkers beneath their apartment blocks. But for the most part, people who have got anywhere else to go have already gone there. You drive through the streets of cities, of towns like Kiryat Shmona and there's virtually nobody there. The shops are all closed. The traffic lights are all on amber blinking so they don't change from red to amber to green. Everybody just goes through. There are virtually no cars on the road. Really, these places are virtually abandoned towns and cities across northern Israel. It really is having a big psychological impact, this barrage of rockets from Hezbollah here.</s>BLITZER: All right Matthew, stand by. We're going to be coming back to you. Matthew is in northern Israel, not far from the Lebanese border. As all of this is taking place, an escalated amount of warfare between Israel and Hezbollah, the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been, as all of our viewers know by now, taking a much higher profile in the Bush administration's response to the warfare in the Middle East. So how do Americans view her efforts and those of her boss? Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider is joining us with some brand-new poll numbers that are coming into CNN -- Bill.</s>WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Wolf, the Middle East, Iraq, Cuba, a wave of crises in the world. How is the American public responding?</s>SCHNEIDER (voice-over): At times of international tension, the American public usually rallies behind the president. Is that happening now? The president's latest job approval rating in a CNN poll taken by the Opinion Research Corporation is 40 percent. Fifty- nine percent disapprove. Not much of a rally, but one administration figure is getting high marks.</s>CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: If you're going to do this job, it's great to be doing it at a time of consequence.</s>SCHNEIDER: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's job rating is 62 percent, much higher than her boss. More than two-thirds of Americans say they sympathize with Israel in this conflict. Sympathy with Israel has been growing since the conflict began. No division there. But there is division over what Israel should do now. Americans are split over whether Israel should continue military action until Hezbollah can no longer launch attacks, or agree to an immediate cease-fire. The cease-fire issue draws a partisan response.</s>TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If you declare an immediate cease-fire and you do not have the conditions for real peace, it is simply going to be a hollow dilation.</s>SCHNEIDER: Most Republicans agree with that. Most Democrats want a cease-fire as soon as possible. Here is something else the public is divided about. A narrow majority support sending U.S. ground troops to the Lebanese border, along with troops from other countries, for a peacekeeping force. But there's no big party split over an international force and a peacekeeping force. What about Cuba? By better than two to one, the public favors reestablishing diplomatic relations with Cuba. If Fidel Castro dies and his brother Raul takes over, that number goes even higher. No partisan split here either. Republicans and Democrats alike favor diplomatic relations with Cuba.</s>SCHNEIDER: In another issue that's making news, do Americans believe actor Mel Gibson is anti-Semitic, that is, prejudiced against Jewish people? Twenty-three percent say yes, 52 percent say no. After the recent incident, Mr. Gibson put out a statement saying that he is not an anti-Semite. This evidence suggests most Americans believe him -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Bill Schneider, thank you very much. Bill Schneider, with all the latest poll numbers, doing an excellent job as usual. And still ahead, those Hezbollah rockets that keep raining down on Israel, Israeli warplanes, meanwhile, are trying to cut off the arms supply route from Syria. We're going to have a live report on the mission and the strategy behind it. Coming up, later in THE SITUATION ROOM, we'll speak with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's former prime minister. And the Israeli offensive in Lebanon -- is it leaving civilians starving? We'll talk about the situation there with Lebanese political analyst Roula Talj. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.