Pew: American views on foreign policy 2009

Pew: American views on foreign policy 2009
by Marc Lynch

The new Pew survey on American attitudes on foreign policy is, as usual, full of interesting findings and trends. The headline finding is that in the midst of recession and war-weariness, the public expresses more restrained and "isolationist" views than in the past and a growing recognition of America's declining power (cleverly designed to drive Dan Drezner nuts).

But, with less fanfare, it also shows Americans unable to shake the habits of decades of unipolarity and half a century of global leadership -- so that when asked to confront the details of what a reduced, less active role might mean, the public largely reverts to old habits. Only 11% of the general public, and a statistically insignificant number of Council on Foreign Relations members (less than 1%), say that the U.S. should not play a leadership role in the world.

This also shows up in the questions about the use of force. True, more say that the U.S. should mind its own business (49% to 44%) and a large majority (76%) say that the U.S. should concentrate on its own national problems. But at the same time, 58% of the public would support the use of force to prevent an African genocide, and 63% would support the use of force against Iran to prevent nuclear weapons. Think about that -- at the height of supposed isolationism, war-weariness, and restraint, almost two-thirds of the public is willing to attack Iran and almost the same number is willing to use force in a humanitarian mission in Africa. That's restraint?

The survey offers evidence in support of several of the arguments made by the American Political Science Association's Task Force on U.S. Standing in the World (on which I served). Despite all the pooh-poohing of soft power and public diplomacy that you hear, most Americans care about America's image in the world, and 73% think it matters for a successful foreign policy. Obama's election and foreign policy have clearly led more Americans to think that America's image has improved and that the U.S. is more respected: there's been a 16% increase in those who say that the U.S. is more respected compared to last year. In May 2008, 71% of the public said that the U.S. was less respected than in the past, and 56% termed this a major problem. Today, only 56% say this, and only 38% consider it a major problem.

There are clear partisan differences, of course, with far more Democrats and Independents seeing the improvement -- but there has only been a neglible 1% decrease among Republicans who say that the U.S. is more respected than in the past (though a 13% increase in those who say it is less respected). But that gap is far less stark than the partisan gap in in overall approval, where 79% of Democrats approve of Obama's foreign policy compared to 22% of Republicans (and 45% of Independents).

There are enormous gaps between the CFR experts and the general public, as always. The public places a far higher priority on protecting U.S. jobs than do the experts (85% to 21%), experts are far more worried about Pakistan. Nothing too surprising there, really. Neither the experts nor the public places a very high priority on promoting democracy, sorry to say (10% of experts, 21% of the public consider it a priority).

The two most interesting findings in this section have to do with Pakistan and Israel. Only 16% of the public has a favorable view of Pakistan, our essential partner in the new AfPak strategy -- barely more than have a favorable view of Iran (11%) -- and unfavorable views of Pakistan have gone from 39% to 68% since last year. Yikes. And the partisan gap on Israel is interesting, if not new: in the general public, 68% of Republicans and 43% of Democrats say that they sympathize with Israel more than with the Palestinians. Among CFR experts, a solid 41% plurality say that they sympathize with both Israel and the Palestinians equally.

There's a lot more in the survey, of course, but those are the points that jumped out at me.
http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/12/04/pew_american_views_on_foreign_policy_2009