… We have a recent moment that seems as though it should provide some useful guidance on this question: the 2011 raid that resulted in the death of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. President Barack Obama’s approval rating rose seven points over the course of a week, driven in part […] Read more »
Is the Blob ignoring the American public?
… As President Trump has made Syria worse, I have heard kindred arguments from both ends of the political spectrum. Sure, the narrative runs, Trump is withdrawing from Syria in the messiest way possible, but isn’t this what the American people wanted? Don’t they want the forever wars in the […] Read more »
CNN Poll: Most Americans are concerned about Syria and think it’s likely ISIS will reemerge
Three-quarters of Americans are concerned about the situation in Syria and many see a reemergence of ISIS as likely following recent changes in US policy, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. But the country is divided over how to proceed. Just over half (51%) think the US […] Read more »
Trumping peace and prosperity
In 1952, Republicans successfully urged Americans to “Vote for peace; Vote for prosperity; Vote for Ike” (Eisenhower). Even before then, those two sets of issues — peace and prosperity — have been paramount in presidential elections and our politics more broadly. That seems to be changing, at least temporarily. CONT. […] Read more »
What Americans really think about US policy toward Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan
The following is based on new findings from two consecutive University of Maryland Critical Issues Polls, conducted September 3-20, and October 4-10. … From the day President Trump announced his decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria, which we started measuring on October 7, support for his move was low, […] Read more »
The foreign policy Americans really want
Donald Trump’s election — and his vitriol against his predecessors, former policymakers and his opponents — led many internationalists to retreat and voluntarily undergo an American version of Mao Zedong’s self-education campaign. Yet it turns out that the American public, when asked, evidences a great deal of common sense about […] Read more »