---
title: "Lame Duck? Shots Fired."
description: "Americans head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 4, with major international issues -- the U.S. effort to counter Islamic State (IS) extremism, how to deal with Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian situation, Russia, and President Barack Obama's general handling of foreign policy -- likely to play a role in their vote."
date: "2014-11-04"
authors:
  - name: "No Author"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/11/04/lame-duck-shots-fired/"
---

# Lame Duck? Shots Fired.

*By Bruce Stokes, Director of Economic Attitudes, Pew Research Center*

*Special to [Foreign Policy](http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/11/03/obama_elections_lame_duck_republican_congress_foreign_policy_islamic_state_israel_palestine_iran_nuclear)*

Americans head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 4, with major international issues -- the U.S. effort to counter Islamic State (IS) extremism, how to deal with Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian situation, Russia, and President Barack Obama's general handling of foreign policy -- likely to play a role in their vote.

Mid-term congressional elections often focus primarily on domestic concerns. But in the run up to this ballot, world affairs have intruded on the public consciousness, which heretofore had been [increasingly inward-looking](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/12/03/public-sees-u-s-power-declining-as-support-for-global-engagement-slips/). This year, the American public is quite concerned about a number of international challenges. And by a 43 percent to 37 percent margin, they believe that the GOP would do a better job handling foreign affairs than the Democrats, according to a [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/10/23/as-midterms-near-gop-leads-on-key-issues-democrats-have-a-more-positive-image/) poll.

Lame duck presidents often tend to focus a great deal of their energies on foreign policy in the last two years of their tenure, in part because the Constitution gives the White House ultimate authority over foreign policy -- thus allowing greater freedom of action when confronted with recalcitrant opposition (or lacking the imperatives of running for re-election). But polls suggest that if the Republicans gain a majority in the Senate and retain control of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, a widely anticipated [outcome](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dre/politics/election-lab-2014), the GOP may be under pressure from its base to chart a different and more aggressive course on U.S. foreign policy than that pursued by the Obama White House.

*Read more at* *[Foreign Policy](http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/11/03/obama_elections_lame_duck_republican_congress_foreign_policy_islamic_state_israel_palestine_iran_nuclear)*