Findings from an early 2008 World Public Opinion (WPO) survey in Iran1 suggest that the Iranian public is far from monolithic in how it views important political and social issues that will likely play prominent roles affecting the outcome of the upcoming 2009 national elections. These findings also have considerable relevance for U.S. policy toward Iran during a period in which the U.S. government is exploring the possibility and usefulness of greater openness in its dealings with Iran.
Using a statistical clustering technique called Latent Class Analysis, we have identified three separate opinion groups within the Iranian public on the basis of their differing degrees of support of the Iranian government on three measures contained in the WPO survey.2 All three measures, discussed below, tap the theoretical construct of "regime support." We have found that the three public groups identified by using these "regime support" measures mirror the diversity of views among Iran's political elites.
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