A 54-percent majority of American voters approves of President Obama’s decision to send a small number of U.S. troops to Syria to help in the fight against the Islamic extremist group ISIS. That’s according to a Fox News poll released Thursday. In addition, by a 49-38 percent margin, voters approve […] Read more »
Obama Regains Majority Job Approval; Most See GOP Infighting as Dysfunction
More than half of Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of Barack Obama’s job performance, a first in nearly two and a half years. That compares with 71 percent disapproval of the Republicans in Congress, with six in 10 calling their struggle to select a new House […] Read more »
America Divided: Political Partisanship and US Foreign Policy
The results of the 2015 Chicago Council Survey demonstrate that the American public remains committed to engagement in the world—as it has been for the more than 40 years the Council has conducted its surveys. But on specific policies, public opinion often divides along party lines. At a fundamental level, […] Read more »
ISIS Successful in Raising US Public Fears about Terrorism
Coinciding with the rise of the Islamic State and continued threat from related groups in the Middle East, public concern about Islamic fundamentalism has increased 15 percentage points since 2014 (to 55% viewing it as a critical threat now), the highest level since 2002 survey results (the first Chicago Council […] Read more »
Fewer in U.S. View Iraq, Afghanistan Wars as Mistakes
Amid a security situation in Iraq and Afghanistan that continues to be contentious, a smaller share of Americans now than last year view the conflict in Afghanistan or the Iraq war as a mistake. A slim majority, 51%, say the 2003 decision to send troops to Iraq was a mistake, […] Read more »
Are Republicans or Democrats closer to general American public opinion on the Middle East?
Middle East policy is likely to be a key battlefield in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton will need to choose whether to run on her record as secretary of state or distance herself from the Obama administration, with her challengers positioning accordingly. On the […] Read more »