Global Views 2004: American Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

The Resource Global Views 2004: American Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

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Global Views 2004: American Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

Summary

This study is part of a quadrennial series designed to investigate the opinions and attitudes of the general public and a select group of opinion leaders on matters related to foreign policy, and to define the parameters of public opinion within which decision-makers must operate. Part 1 consists of data acquired from interviews of leaders with foreign policy power, specialization, and expertise. These include Congressional members or their senior staff, university administrators and academics who teach in the area of international relations, journalists and editorial staff who handle international news, administration officials and other senior staff in various agencies and offices dealing with foreign policy, religious leaders, senior business executives from FORTUNE 1,000 corporations, labor presidents of the largest labor unions, presidents of major private foreign policy organizations, and presidents of major special interest groups relevant to foreign policy. For Part 2, the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (CCFR) conducted its opinion survey of the American general public through the Internet. In particular, this study covers the global United States position, international norms and the use of force, multilateralism and international institutions, international norms and economic relations, and policy attitudes and perceptions of United States leaders and the public. Regarding the global United States position, respondents were asked to give their opinions on threats to the vital interests that most Americans consider critical, the fundamental foreign policy goals that they want to pursue, how much they are willing to spend on foreign policy-related items, whether they favor the United States having military bases overseas in general and their support for stationing troops in various specified countries, their views on the Middle East, how active the United States should be in world affairs, their willingness to take action against terrorism, and their support for diplomatic and other nonmilitary actions to solve conflicts. On the topic of international norms and the use of force, respondents gave their opinions on adhering to traditional norms and empowering the United Nations, preventive action against a state seeking weapons of mass destruction, using force against a state supporting terrorists, the use of nuclear weapons, the use of torture, using force against a state conduction genocide, using force to restore a democratic government, and defending a country that has been attacked. Concerning multilateralism and international institutions, respondents were asked their level of support for collective decision-making through international institutions and for empowering the United Nations, their attitudes toward other major international organizations, their support for international agreements, their desire to seek consensus among nations, and their opinions on the idea of spreading democracy. On the subject of international norms and economic relations, respondents were asked about pursuing free trade with certain conditions, globalization and trade in principle, their support for the trading system and institutions, their concerns about inequities, and their opinions on mitigating the effects of trade, achieving equity in trade, trade as a strategic tool, responsibility for development aid, regional trade agreements, and migration. For the sake of comparison, Parts 1 and 2 include many of the same questions asked of both groups. Background information on respondents includes religion, age, income, education, gender, marital status, and employment status. Part 3 is a special telephone survey of the general public designed to be directly comparable to the telephone survey of 2002

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