If you really want to know what the Syrian people have thought about their government, it's actually right on the Internet, even on Daily Kos. They actually held protests, back in 2011:
On September 9, 2011, "The Friday of International Protection" protest was held nationwide.
On October 28, 2011, they held “Friday of the No-Fly-Zone.”
On December 2, 2011, they held “Friday of Safe Zones.”
These protests were an attempt to get the international community to protect the Syrian people.
The title here comes from the article by the United for a Free Syria (UFS), a group of Syrian Americans that supports overthrowing Assad and establishing a democratic government in the country. While I personally do not think that we can establish a democracy there, or that we should get seriously involved in the country without international assistance, it is obvious that the Syrian people have been worried about their government for years. In the letter titled "Letter to the Anti-War Movement from the Syrian American Community", the UFS documents the attacks on the Syrian people by the administration, including 43 air strikes on September 1st alone. It also documents the protests, actions taken by other Islamic countries to end the Civil War, and Russian interference:
Again in the summer of 2013, the United States attempted to revive the idea of talks with Russia towards pushing both sides to a political solution announcing a Geneva II peace conference between the government and the rebels which never got off the ground, as the Russian regime continued to provide attack planes to the Assad regime, and Hizbollah intervened on the regime’s behalf. Just last month in August 2013, Saudi intelligence chief Bandar bin Sultan offered Russia’s President Vladamir Putin millions of dollars in economic trade and concessions in return for ceasing support of the Assad regime and was rejected.
The chemical attack was not an out of the blue attack against unsuspecting people, it was an escalation of the use of force by the Syrian government against it's people. We can debate whether the US or the world should respond, but it's actually pretty obvious what the Syrian people think of their government.