By Will Lester, .c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, 13 (AP) - A majority of Americans think 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez should be returned to Cuba to be with his father after being rescued off the coast of Florida clinging to an inner tube, two polls say.
Elian was found Nov. 25 off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after a boat accident that killed his mother and 10 other people.
Federal officials say he should be returned to his father, but a Florida judge has said he cannot be returned until a March hearing. Attorney General Janet Reno said Wednesday that only a federal court can make such a ruling.
The percentage of Americans who wanted the boy returned increased slightly in polls by ABC News and CNN-USA Today-Gallup.
The ABC poll indicated that 52 percent favored the boy's return to Cuba, while 36 percent thought he should stay here. Just under half, 46 percent, wanted to see him returned last month, while a third thought he should stay.
``The changes were not huge, but we had fewer who were undecided this time,'' said ABC pollster Gary Langer. ``The issue has been getting a lot of attention. More people have information on it.''
A CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll found that 56 percent approve of the boy's return while 36 percent thought he should stay. Last month, people were about evenly split, but the decision by the U.S. government decision to return him to his father in Cuba may have increased the number who support that
move, said Lydia Saad, managing editor of the Gallup Poll.
``Public opinion can be altered by an official decision,'' she said. ``There's a degree of authority to the decision - particularly on an issue where the public did not have strong opinions.''
Men supported the boy's return to his father in Cuba by a slightly larger margin than women, and people with college educations were more likely than those with less education to favor his return.
A WLTV-Channel 23 poll of Miami-Dade County residents in southern Florida indicated that nine of 10 Hispanics oppose his return to Cuba, while a majority of non-Hispanic whites and blacks say he should go home.
The ABC poll of 1,016 adults was conducted Jan. 5-9. The CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll of 1,633 adults was taken Friday through Monday. Both polls have error margins of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
AP-NY-01-13-00 0354EST
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