Protecting the U.S. from terrorist attacks and protecting American jobs are the two top foreign policy priorities for Americans in 2014.
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.
Here are some data points that measure how the public in the U.S. and around the world see the challenges ahead for 2014.
More Americans disapprove than approve of last month’s nuclear agreement with Iran, and and there continues to be widespread skepticism about whether Iranian leaders are serious about addressing international concerns over the country’s nuclear program.
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.
Highlights from the report, "Public Sees U.S. Power Declining as Support for Global Engagement Slips." For the first time in nearly a half century of polling, a majority agrees that the United States should mind its own business internationally.
Growing numbers of Americans believe that U.S. global power and prestige are in decline. And support for U.S. global engagement has fallen. Yet, despite these reservations, most Americans say greater U.S. involvement in the global economy is a good thing.
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.
The Obama administration reportedly is planning to curb U.S. military aid to Egypt, a move that many Americans would support, according to a Pew Research poll conducted in August.
President Obama’s decision to cancel his trip to the Pacific Rim economic summit because of the political battle at home over the budget and debt ceiling comes at a time when publics in the region have mixed views about the U.S. and China.
