Americans Less Anxious About U.S. Foreign Policy Now Than in Past Four Years

Public Agenda/ Foreign Affairs finds Republicans have grown more anxious; Democrats and Independents less so

NEW YORK, April 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American public is less anxious about foreign policy than it's been for four years, partly because they believe our global image has improved, and partly because the troubled economy and other domestic concerns are pushing foreign worries aside, according to Public Agenda's Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index.

The Foreign Policy Anxiety Indicator stands at 122, a 10-point drop since 2008 and the lowest level since Public Agenda introduced this measure in 2006. The Confidence in Foreign Policy Index, produced by Public Agenda in collaboration with Foreign Affairs, uses a set of tracking questions to measure Americans' comfort level with the nation's foreign policy, much the same way the Consumer Confidence Index measures the public's satisfaction with the economy.

The Anxiety Indicator is measured on a 200-point scale, with 100 serving as a neutral midpoint, neither anxious nor confident. A score of 50 or below would indicate a period of complacency. Above the "redline" of 150 would be anxiety shading into real fear and a withdrawal of public confidence in U.S. policy.

"Two years ago, Iraq was seen as the 'number one' problem facing the nation in its dealings with the rest of the world," said Daniel Yankelovich, the noted social scientist and Public Agenda's chairman. "Now, neither Iraq nor Afghanistan is cited as one of the five most important foreign policy problems we face. But most Americans still see the world as a treacherous, often hostile place, and that concern certainly hasn't gone away."

But Republicans Have Grown Much More Anxious; Democrats and Independents Much Less So

• Republican worries have soared from a relatively low level of 108 in 2008 to 134 today.
• By contrast, Democratic anxiety has fallen to 104 today from a level of 142 in 2008.
• Independents are at 128 today, down from 140 in 2008.

In a Dangerous, Unfriendly World, Fewer Say Foreign Relations Are On the Wrong Track

• The single largest change is in the number of Americans who say U.S. relations with the rest of the world are "off on the wrong track," which dropped 15 points in two years. Still, half of the public (50 percent) say that relations with the rest of the world are "off on the wrong track," while 39 percent say things are moving in the right direction. At the same time, fewer people say they worry "a lot" about the way things are going for the United States in world affairs, down 12 points from 39 percent in 2008 to 27 percent today.
• And Americans are feeling better about our world image. While a majority of Americans (56 percent) still say that the world sees the United States in a negative light, this is a significant improvement from 2008, where nearly two-thirds of Americans (63 percent) held this view.
• Americans still see the world as a dangerous place for the United States and its interests. The number who say the world is becoming "more dangerous for the United States and the American people" is virtually the same was it was two years ago: 72 percent, compared with 73 percent in 2008.
• Only 30 percent give the United States "excellent" or "good" ratings "as a leader in creating a more peaceful and prosperous world." Again, that's essentially unchanged from two years ago.

The most dramatic example of the partisan divide shows up in answer to the question about whether the country is on the right direction or the wrong track in foreign affairs. In 2008, only 20 percent of Democrats said the country was going in the right direction, compared with 45 percent of Republicans. Now the Democrats' view has shifted a staggering 41 points, to 61 percent who think the country is going in the right direction, while Republicans' rating has dropped to only one-quarter (26 percent). Independents are far less enthusiastic than Democrats are, but their "right direction" number has doubled from 16 percent to 32 percent.

Afghanistan is more clearly tied to the threat of terrorism than Iraq was. Some 40 percent say, "America's safety from terrorism depends on our success in Afghanistan." That's somewhat higher than we found when we asked a similar question about Iraq in 2008 when only 34 percent said our safety from terrorism depended on success there.

Domestic Issues Trump Everything

When asked about "the most important problem facing the U.S. in its dealings with the rest of the world," 26 percent either volunteered answers that had to do with the United States economy or domestic issues rather than international ones, including 10 percent who explicitly stated that the United States should focus more on domestic matters, less on international ones.

For more information about the Confidence in Foreign Policy Index, visit http://www.publicagenda.org/pages/foreign-policy-index-2010

About the Foreign Policy Index

The questions in the Foreign Policy Index were fielded between March 18 and March 21, 2010. The survey was in the field right after Congress passed a jobs bill and during the final debate and passage of a health care bill by the House of Representatives. During this period, there was also coverage of continued drug violence in Mexico and tensions between Israel and the United States. But this was well before the nuclear arms agreement made between the United States and Russia and the uprising in Kyrgyzstan. Other surveys show news about health care was by far the most closely followed by the public that week.

Public Agenda

For over 30 years, Public Agenda has been providing research that bridges the gap between American leaders and what the public really thinks about issues ranging from education to foreign policy to immigration to religion and civility in American life. Public Agenda is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that was founded by social scientist and author Daniel Yankelovich and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.

Foreign Affairs

Since its founding in 1922, Foreign Affairs has been the leading forum for serious discussion of American foreign policy and international affairs. It is published by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a non-profit and nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to improving the understanding of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs through the free exchange of ideas.

SOURCE Public Agenda