Year: 2013

With national debates looming next year over Iran, Syria, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, trade and China, continued partisan discord is probably unavoidable. What may be different this time is the shear depth of that partisan divide.

As free trade negotiations with Europe proceed, Americans seem predisposed toward trade liberalization, especially with the European Union. But concerns about the impact of trade on wages and jobs and a generational pivot toward Asia suggest that TTIP is not a slam dunk.

On discreet foreign policy issues of topical bilateral concern, there is often general agreement on broad issues between the British and American publics and disagreement on specifics.

Recent developments regarding Iran, Syria and China suggest that President Barack Obama, like his predecessors, will concentrate more on international issues as his presidency winds down. The American public, however, may not let him do so.

Revelations by Edward Snowden of U.S. National Security Agency spying have exposed both similarities and differences in public attitudes toward privacy among Europeans and Americans.

The American public thinks that the United States does too much to try to solve the world’s problems, and increasing percentages want the U.S. to “mind its own business internationally” and pay more attention to problems at home.

While Americans are more open to economic engagement than they have been in the past, they also continue to exhibit a wariness about refocusing U.S. policy toward Asia and have misgivings about accepting more high-skilled immigrants.

Foreign policy, once a relative strength for President Obama, has now become a target of substantial criticism among both the general public and foreign policy experts.

Americans' willingness to take on new international burdens is at an all-time low, and it is not clear that a rebalancing of U.S. interests and engagement toward East, Southeast and South Asia has the full support of the American people.

As negotiators convene in Geneva in an effort to reach agreement on curbing Iran's nuclear program, the American people are supportive of a deal, even though they are fairly cynical about the likelihood of it working.

America’s rise in the 50 years since President Kennedy was killed has been far from trouble-free – and America’s international standing since the fall of its great Cold War rival has reflected the ups, downs and uncertainties of the past five decades.

Survey Report Even though many in Africa continue to face serious financial adversity, their economic outlook is more positive than many others around the world, and they are hopeful about their children’s future. Overall, Africans, along with Asians and Latin Americans, tend to express more positive views about economic conditions than do Europeans and Middle […]