--- title: "Obama charts a new foreign policy course for a public that wants the focus to be at home" description: "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." date: "2014-05-28" authors: - name: "Bruce Drake" job_title: "Former Senior Editor" link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/bruce-drake/" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/05/28/obama-charts-a-new-foreign-policy-course-for-a-public-that-wants-the-focus-to-be-at-home/" categories: - "International Affairs" --- # Obama charts a new foreign policy course for a public that wants the focus to be at home [![Deportations in FY 2013](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2014/10/FT_Deportations2013.png?w=300)](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2014/10/FT_Deportations2013.png) [![President Obama delivers a speech at West Point. Credit: Roger L. Wollenberg-Pool/Getty Images](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2014/05/Obama_WestPoint.jpg)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2014/05/Obama_WestPoint.jpg) *President Obama delivers a speech at West Point in 2009. Credit: Roger L. Wollenberg-Pool/Getty Images* President Obama is expected today to lay out his vision for navigating the many foreign challenges now facing the nation at a West Point commencement address. Republican leaders have criticized the administration for [failing to exert American leadership](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-frustrated-obama-pushes-back-on-his-critics/) abroad, but 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. [![President Obama addresses cadets at West Point Military Academy](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2014/05/FT_West_Point.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/12/03/section-1-americas-global-role/#views-of-international-engagement) A growing number of Americans want to see the U.S. *less *involved abroad after more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/12/03/section-1-americas-global-role/#views-of-international-engagement) survey last fall, 52% of the public said the U.S. should “mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own” — the first time since 1964 than more than half the public held that view. About four-in-ten (38%) disagreed. An [NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJNBCpoll04232014.pdf) last month produced similar results. As crises like the ongoing civil war in Syria and Russia’s annexation of the Ukraine have tested his administration, Obama [complained last month](http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2014/04/obama-fed-up-with-foreign-policy-critics-187581.html) about criticism that he was not being tough enough. For example, [Sen. Bob Corker](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/22/corker-obama-repeating-syria-mistakes-in-ukraine.html) (Tenn.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that the administration had led on anti-government forces in Syria and pro-western elements in Ukraine without doing enough to back them up. Obama said that some of these critics "would go headlong into a bunch of military adventures that the American people had no interest in participating in and would not advance our core security interests." In his West Point speech, a top White House foreign policy aide [told the New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/world/obama-to-detail-a-broader-foreign-policy-agenda.html?action=click&module=Search®ion=searchResults&mabReward=relbias%3Ar&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26contentCollection%3DPolitics%26region%3DTopBar%26WT.nav%3DsearchWidget%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26pgtype%3Darticle%23%2Fobama%2Bwestpoint%2F7days%2F&_r=0) that Obama will make “a case for interventionism but not overreach” when it comes to addressing crises abroad. About half (51%) of Americans agreed last fall that Obama was not tough enough on foreign policy and national security issues while 37% considered his policies about right. More specifically, an [April survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/04/28/bipartisan-support-for-increased-u-s-sanctions-against-russia/) on public reaction to events in the Ukraine found that 40% considered Obama’s response about right while 35% said he was not being tough enough. But when it comes to specific challenges, public opinion reflects the general trend toward less direct U.S. involvement. Only 31% of Americans said what happens between Russia and Ukraine was *very *important to U.S. interests, according to an [April Pew Research poll](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/04/28/bipartisan-support-for-increased-u-s-sanctions-against-russia/). About six-in-ten (62%) opposed sending arms or military supplies to the Ukraine government. On the “toughness” question, there was a clear partisan divide: 55% of Republicans called Obama not tough enough compared with 23% of Democrats. This is all during a time when Americans believe U.S. influence in the world is declining. About half (53%) said the U.S. role as a world leader is less important and powerful than 10 years ago while only 17% said it was more important. Seven-in-ten said the U.S. is [less respected](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/12/03/section-1-americas-global-role/#u-s-widely-seen-as-less-respected) by other countries than in the past. About an equal number [favored a shared leadership role](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/12/03/section-1-americas-global-role/#u-s-leadership-role) in the world with far fewer saying the U.S. should be the single world power. One area where Obama [reportedly is ready](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304811904579587872204780320?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories&mg=reno64-wsj) to take stepped-up U.S. action —possibly to be announced in the West Point speech — is Syria, where the U.S. may provide military training to moderate Syrian rebels. However, public opinion on Syria is also reflective of some of the general sentiment on global engagement. A [CBS News/New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/world/middleeast/49-in-poll-fault-obama-on-policies-outside-us.html) poll last September found that 68% of those surveyed said the U.S. did not have a responsibility to do something in Syria to end the fighting.