Washington, May 28 (IANS) Americans have an unfavourable opinion of Pakistan which has appeared in the news consistently since the US killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, near Islamabad, a new poll shows.

One in four surveyed consider the country an enemy of the US, and seven in ten think aid from the US to Pakistan should stop or decrease, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll.

But the new figures released on the same day Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Islamabad, show animosity toward Pakistan is nothing new.

Last summer, 78 percent of Americans surveyed had an unfavourable view of the country, a figure that has only risen by three points since then.

Twenty four percent believe Pakistan is an enemy of the US and another 47 percent say Pakistan is unfriendly to America.

Fewer than three in ten Americans believe Pakistan is an ally or friend to the US, with more than four in ten saying aid to the country should stop completely and 27 percent saying it should decrease.

The poll surveyed 1,007 Americans by telephone May 24 through May 26 and had a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, CNN said.