Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Washington (VNA) - The majority of Americans support Viet Nam's bid to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It is a result of the second annual Report Viet Nam Poll, which was conducted with 28,885 likely American voters nationwide in mid-November 2004 by Bradley O'Leary of the Associated Television News and pollster John Zogby of Zogby International.

The poll examined voter attitudes on an issue of key importance to Viet Nam: its entry into the World Trade Organisation. The results was that two-thirds of all Americans support the country's entry into the WTO and only 13 percent opposed the entry.

The results of this poll demonstrate a remarkable shift in the mood of voters on the issue of trade with Viet Nam, with 49 percent of Americans who thought the U.S. should encourage more contact while 44 percent felt that the U.S. should hold off on trade. It appears Americans are becoming increasingly supportive of trade with Viet Nam with opposition dropping from 44 percent to 13 percent and support increasing from 49 percent to 66 percent.

The poll shows that the majority of Americans who expressed opinions have a favourable impression of Viet Nam. The poll found Americans split into three groups: one-third of Americans who had a very or mostly favourable opinion; a third who had no opinion on the country; and another third that had a very or mostly unfavorable opinion of Viet Nam. These results clearly show that one-third of Americans can be swayed to a positive view of Viet Nam because they have not yet formed an opinion. Members of the press corps in Viet Nam should view these results as an opportunity to enlighten those Americans with no opinion of their country with a blitz of media stories on the country's many virtues for Americans.

The poll also asked Americans about the progress by veterans groups and the government of Viet Nam on locating the remains of MIAs. Seventy-eight percent of Americans felt that the U.S. Congress should thank these veterans groups and the government of Viet Nam for their efforts to date. In fact, the 700 remaining Viet Nam MIAs is a relatively small number when compared to Korean War MIAs (7,200) or World War II MIAs (79,000) and the fact that Viet Nam has military MIAs is due to the American Viet Nam War. Americans are largely appreciative of the government of Viet Nam's efforts to work with American veterans to locate MIAs.