A new poll drastically undercuts a critical assumption among U.S. policymakers who believe American troops would be welcomed into Syria or Iraq to help destroy the Islamic State group and its brutal rule. The poll instead shows a vast majority of civilians on the ground there believes the U.S. created the extremist network, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and sees it as no better than the proxies the White House supports to win the war remotely.

Roughly 53 percent of those living in parts of Syria controlled by opposition forces and 92 percent living within Islamic State group territory say they are opposed to the U.S.-led air campaign, according to a new survey conducted by ORB International. In Iraq, 44 percent support the campaign while 56 percent oppose it.

The firm spoke with 1,365 Syrians in July throughout the country and 1,234 Iraqis, including those in regions controlled by the central government, by rebel forces, and by extremist networks like the Islamic State group or the al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al Nusrah. The pollsters asked about the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011 and has accounted for more than 200,000 deaths, and also about the extremist networks that have thrived amid the violence, layering on another conflict with a U.S.-led international coalition that spills into neighboring Iraq.

The results largely show distrust for all of these powers, including the U.S., and little hope that the current Western strategy to bring about peace has any chance of succeeding.

Indeed, a staggering 82 percent of Syrians believe that the U.S. created the Islamic State group, the results show. That number is highest in government-controlled areas of Syria where 86 percent of people agree, but also in opposition-controlled areas and regions controlled by the Kurds, where 83 percent and 81 percent agree, respectively. Even in Islamic State group-controlled regions, 62 percent believe this to be true.

When posing this question, the surveyors used an Arabic word that translates to literal creation, not, for example, a byproduct of U.S. policies or complicity in allowing for the Islamic State group to rise.

The belief of U.S. involvement in the extremists’ rise also leads public perception in Iraq where 85 percent agree with that assessment, more than the 71 percent who agree it was created by poor central government policies, 71 percent who believe it was caused by another Arabic system, and 42 percent who believe it’s the result of Iran’s meddling.

The other options that could have contributed to the rise of the Islamic State group were “sectarian conflict,” for which 22 percent in Syria agreed, or bad government policies, for which 44 percent agreed.

“We’re really viewed as radioactive in the area,” says Karl Kaltenthaler, a professor at the University of Akron who helped initially analyze the survey results. “I look at the opinion data, and I understand the situation on the ground more now: We’re not going to be welcomed as liberators. That’s pretty clear. In fact, we’re much more likely to be seen as invaders and occupiers.”

Kaltenthaler adds this was likely true before the U.S.-led air campaign that has limited its strikes to targets it can clearly identify as the Islamic State group, a restriction some military officials have said is an impossible strategy for victory.

Some of the other startling results include the popularity of the Islamic State group, and that most Syrians do not feel they need to choose between rule under extremists or under government forces loyal to Assad.

“Many have the impression that people are terrified of ISIL, that they’re running around cutting people’s heads off and burning people,” says Kaltenthaler. “That does go on, and there is an element of totalitarian terrorism.”

“Having said that, one of the things we get particularly from the focus groups that have been done in that area is that they look at ISIL as a supplier of stability, a supplier of security. And they say, ‘Well, OK, it’s not perfect, but ISIL has the economy up on its feet again.’”

Jabhat al-Nusrah, an offshoot of al-Qaida in Iraq like the Islamic State group but still allied with the original extremist network, is also relatively popular in the areas it controls. Thirty-five percent of respondents expressed support for the al-Nusrah Front, about the same as those who support the Syrian opposition, and more than the 21 percent who supported the Islamic State group. The power with the most support is Assad’s Syrian regime, with 47 percent supporting it, just over the 43 percent who support Iran’s influence in the region.