Sep 17, 2019
Poll: What Americans want from U.S. foreign policy
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Americans have become a bit less isolationist in the Trump era, according to a poll from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
By the numbers: 69% think the U.S. is better off playing an active role globally, compared to 58% 5 years ago and 64% toward the end of the Obama administration.
Other key findings:
- 87% of Americans think international trade is good for the U.S. economy. That's a whopping 28% higher than in 2016, with steady increases over the past 3 years.
- Most Americans think military alliances (74%), military superiority (69%) and stationing troops overseas (51%) make the U.S. safer. NATO has substantial support from Democrats (86%) and Republicans (62%).
- Just 27% think U.S. military interventions make the country safer.
Partisan splits:
- 78% of Republicans see "large numbers of immigrants and refugees coming into the U.S." as a critical threat (up from 61% in 2017), compared to 19% of Democrats.
- 78% of Democrats see climate change as a critical threat (up from 69% in 2017), compared to 23% of Republicans (up from 16% in 2017).
- Just last year, Republicans (42%) and Democrats (40%) were about equally likely to see "the development of China as a world power" as a critical threat. Now 54% of Republicans do, compared to 36% of Democrats.
