The Council on Foreign Relations represents the nation's foreign policy elite: its 4,300 members include government officials, scholars, business leaders, journalists, prominent attorneys, and a nonprofit professionals. A 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center found that members of the group did not think that killing bin Laden would transform Afghanistan: "Of the factors asked about, the one seen as least important to the effort to stabilize the nation is capturing or killing Osama bin Laden. Just 14% say this is a very important step to take, and 31% say it is somewhat important. Half of CFR members (50%) say capturing or killing bin Laden is not too or not at all important."
In a 2006 Gallup poll, however, 64 percent of the general public deemed it "extremely" or "very" important to the United States to capture or kill bin Laden. An equal percentage thought it was "very" or "somewhat" likely to happen.
