Washington, Apr 8 (EFE).– Almost 80 percent of Cubans have a favorable impression of U.S. President Barack Obama, compared with 47 percent who think well of Cuban President Raul Castro and 44 percent who think well of revolutionary leader and former President Fidel Castro, according to the largest opinion survey ever performed in Cuba by an independent company and published Wednesday in the United States.

According to the results of the survey, conducted by Bendixen & Amandi at the behest of media outlets like Univision, 97 percent of Cuban citizens feel that reestablishing diplomatic relations with Washington will be positive for Cuba and 96 percent are against the embargo imposed by the United States on the island.

Cubans, however, are more skeptical about the possible changes that the rapprochement between Havana and Washington could bring.

Just 34 percent of those surveyed say that the normalization of relations will change the Cuban political system, while 64 percent believe that the economic system could change as a result.

The island’s economic situation is the main concern of Cubans with 79 percent saying they are unsatisfied with the economy and 55 percent saying they want to leave the country.

Also, 75 percent of those surveyed acknowledged that they are afraid to express their opinions in public.

These results were made known just days before Raul Castro and Obama both will attend the Summit of the Americas to be held in Panama and the first such hemispheric gathering in which Cuba will participate.

The survey, which has an error margin of plus or minus 2.8 percent, was carried out from March 17-27 in personal interviews with 1,200 Cubans and was commissioned by Univision Noticias/Fusion in collaboration with The Washington Post.

This is the largest survey performed on Cuban citizens by an independent global opinion survey firm in Cuba since 1959, and it is the first of its kind since the announcement of the normalization of diplomatic and economic relations between Washington and Havana last December. EFE