A quarter approve of GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s comments on the attacks. Poll: Low approval of Mitt's remarks

Nearly half of Americans who are knowledgeable about the attacks on U.S. outposts in the Middle East approve of President Barack Obama’s handling of the crisis, compared to only a quarter who approve of GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s comments on it, according to a poll released Monday.

Only 26 percent of those following the news in the Middle East approved of Romney’s statements about the attacks, compared to 48 percent who disapproved, according to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press. As for Obama, 45 percent approved of his actions, and 36 percent disapproved.


The protests and riots, supposedly sparked by an amateur film insulting to Muslims, have spread across the Middle East and the Muslim world. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed last week in an assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Libyan authorities have arrested suspects in the attack.

The morning after Stevens’s death, Romney made a statement criticizing Obama’s response to the protests and accused him of apologizing for American values and sympathizing with the rioters. Critics, including many Republicans, criticized his tone and timing, and questioned the accuracy of his accusations.

There was a sharp partisan divide in approval of how Romney and Obama each dealt with the assaults — only 5 percent of Democrats approved of Romney’s remarks, and only 11 percent of Republicans approved of Obama’s handling — but independents favored the president. Forty-four percent of them liked how Obama handled the events, with only 23 percent saying the same of the former Massachusetts governor.

Among those who said they were following the attacks “very closely,” however, the numbers are somewhat tighter. While 46 percent approved of Obama’s handling, 43 percent disapproved. And 34 percent approved of Romney’s comments, while 49 percent disapproved.

The poll of 1,001 adults was conducted between Sept. 13-16. Of those, 854 Americans were following the news in the Middle East. Polling among the smaller group has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.