Citizens for Global Solutions

U.S. GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT | U.S. Public Opinion

U.S. PUBLIC OPINION ON GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT

Public opinion research on Americans’ attitudes consistently shows that the American public supports an active, cooperative role for the United States in world affairs; a strong and effective United Nations; stronger international law; and the sharing of responsibility among nations. But our elected leaders not only assume that Americans are isolationists, but also routinely make foreign policy decisions that are opposed by strong (sometimes overwhelming) majorities of the public. Research has shown that policymakers consistently “misread the public,” incorrectly thinking that their constituents are isolationists.

While Americans overwhelmingly support cooperative global engagement, these views are not held as strongly as their views on other political issues and are therefore less likely to be communicated to politicians through communications or voting behavior.

Citizens for Global Solutions tracks and analyzes research on public opinion on foreign policy and seeks to educate policymakers and the public about what Americans really think about global interdependence and U.S. engagement.

Other Resources

WorldPublicOpinion.org - Launched January 2006, this PIPA publication provides in-depth information and analysis on public opinion from around the world on international issues.
Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) - Carries out research on public attitudes on international issues by conducting nationwide polls, focus groups and comprehensive reviews of polling conducted by other organizations.
U.S. in the World: Talking Global Issues with Americans: A Practical Guide - This guide pulls together facts and arguments and the most effective ways to put them across for advocates of pragmatic, principled, effective and collaborative U.S. global engagement.
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Global Interdependence Initiative - GII seeks to broaden and give more effective voice to the constituency in the United States for more responsible, cooperative behavior by the US government. They make available on their site excellent training documents to understand how Americans think about global engagement and how to communicate with Americans about global engagement, as well as summaries of surveys on hunger, poverty and development assistance.
Frameworks Institute Research on Global Interdependence - The Frameworks Institute, a research and communications consulting group, presents a series of remarkable reports commissioned by the Global Interdependence Initiative on public, media and elite attitudes on foreign affairs, including recommended frames and language to promote global engagement.
Open Society Institute's Openings for Framing a Progressive Foreign Policy - January 2004 research conducted for the OSI Cooperative Global Engagement Project finds that there is a large base—if not majority support—for a foreign policy agenda that goes beyond the goal of defending against terrorism and security threats and emphasizes building a more peaceful and prosperous world. (In other words, a policy based more on hope than on fear.)
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press - In addition to polling and research on attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy in the U.S. the Pew Global Attitudes Project tracks U.S. and foreign opinion on a range of foreign policy issues.
Global Views 2004: The follow-up 2004 report by the Chicago Council on Foreign relations that investigates the attitudes of American leaders and the public on foreign policy issues. A wealth of information.
Worldviews 2002 - Worldviews is a joint Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (CCFR) and German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) project aimed at investigating the attitudes of the American and European public on a range of foreign policy issues.

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