Only a quarter of Americans approved of U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s criticism of incumbent President Barack Obama concerning the recent developments in the Middle East, a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center said.
Last week Romney criticized Obama’s reaction and actions following the recent attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions in Libya, Egypt and many other countries triggered by a U.S.-made film, which is considered anti-Islamic.
Only 26 percent of the surveyed supported Romney’s reaction, while 48 percent considered them as negative and 26 percent said they had nothing to answer.
At the same time, 45 percent of the polled favored Obama’s response to the events in Libya and Egypt and 35 percent disapproved his actions.
With about seven weeks left before Election Day, Obama, who has been nominated by Democrats to run for a second term in office, has a small lead over Romney nationwide, but enjoys a significant advantage in the electoral college.
The posting on Tuesday of a U.S.-made short film titled "Innocence of Muslims" on the popular video-sharing service YouTube sparked anti-American protests in Muslim communities around the globe, which by Sunday spread to some 20 countries.
The movie has been lambasted as offensive to Prophet Mohammed and immoral.
The most violent clashes between protesters and police around U.S. diplomatic missions have occurred so far in Libya, where U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American diplomats were killed, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan and Tunisia.
