Office of the Historian

88. Memorandum From the Assistant Director, East Asia and Pacific, United States Information Agency (Oleksiw) to the Director (Shakespeare)1

Washington, June 1, 1970

SUBJECT

  • May Opinion Trend Survey Results (Viet-Nam)

Herewith are selected results from a probability sample of 637 adult Vietnamese interviews taken in Saigon May 3–10, 1970.

—Twenty-seven percent of the general public rated achievement of peace and termination of the war as the most important problem facing Viet-Nam today; 21 percent listed economic problems and 8 percent political stability as most important.

—Uncertainty regarding the future performance of GVN was expressed in the rise of “Don’t Know” answers to a question of confidence in the ability of the government to meet the needs of the people in the years ahead. Among the general public, “Don’t Know” responses were up from 38 percent in March to 57 percent in May. The college-educated voicing increased confidence in the GVN’s ability fell from 19 percent in March to 3 percent in May; they listed as reasons the inability of the GVN to settle the issues involving students and veterans, profiteering and corruption.

—In May 1970 those who thought the war would end in a year or less declined to 4 percent from a high of 45 percent of the general public in October 1968.

—Rating of the U.S. as a dependable ally of SVN reached the lowest point in thirteen Saigon surveys, with only 26 percent of the general public and 23 percent of the college-educated thinking of U.S. as “very dependable” or “rather dependable.”

—Forty-four percent of the general public and 68 percent of the college-educated thought the attacks on the sanctuaries would be beneficial.

  1. Source: National Archives, RG 306, Director’s Subject Files, 1968–1972, Entry A1–42, Box 10, Field—Far East (IAF) 1970. Limited Official Use. A copy was sent to Loomis.↩