Obama charts a new foreign policy course for a public that wants the focus to be at home
The speech also comes at a time when the American public has less of an appetite for foreign involvement and believes American clout is not what it used to be.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The speech also comes at a time when the American public has less of an appetite for foreign involvement and believes American clout is not what it used to be.
About half of Americans (51%) say it is more important to build a stronger relationship with China on economic issues, while 41% say it is more important to get tougher with China.
As Sunni militants make a major military push against the central government in Iraq, the Obama administration is said to have rebuffed requests from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to use drones to strike at extremist bases. That reported reluctance follows years of U.S. military intervention in Iraq that many Americans say was misguided and failed to achieve its goals.
China and the U.S., the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters, are among the least worried about climate change.
Americans have strongly favorable views of some allies and negative opinions about a range of others. Some of this is driven by U.S. partisan politics. And history suggests all such opinions are subject to change.
Partisanship is a major factor in a new Pew Research Center survey showing that a growing number of Americans believe the U.S. is less respected in the world and plays a less important role globally than 10 years ago.
While the American public increasingly has been looking inward after years of economic stress at home and a decade of wars abroad, they have a keen awareness of the challenges posed to the U.S. by China in the superpower competition between the two countries.
While Barack Obama has an uphill battle if he wants to win over public support for military airstrikes in Syria, there are signs that opinions may have shifted over the course of the weekend.
A huge partisan gap divides Americans on the question of whether the U.S. is making progress in defeating the insurgency in Iraq with 80% of Republicans saying that it is, but only 36% of Democrats agreeing.
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