American Public opinion about foreign countries Research Paper

Introduction

Public opinion plays a big role in every society, especially on issues concerning governance. This assertion is true in democratic governance where core values revolve around the freedom of choice and expression.

Public opinion can be defined as an aggregate of opinions from numerous individuals on specific issues based on their attitudes and beliefs. In order to establish the public opinion on any given issue, an individual or institution conducts a survey on a substantial number of individuals, thus collecting data on their views concerning the subject of the survey.

This survey is referred to as an opinion poll or simply a poll. Public opinion forms the basis of campaign strategies for leaders seeking election into a certain office. It also forms the basis for policies made in government concerning most matters of public interest.

The usual duration for conducting polls is on a yearly basis, although sometimes they take place in shorter intervals depending on the urgency and the importance of the issue at hand. This paper focuses on the American public opinion about foreign countries based on polls conducted between the year 2002 and 2012. The countries of focus are China, Russia, Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

Some of the surveys conducted are focused on general opinion while others are focused on political and economic issues. This paper highlight some of the trends that are evident from the polls, the ratings that the countries get both independently and in relation to each other, and gives a conclusion on the issues that receive the most attention as well as the implications of the poll results.

Public opinion

Over the years, pollsters in the United States have conducted several polls over the public opinion on the six countries mentioned earlier. However, of concern to this paper are ten surveys that were carried out between 2002 and 2012.

Gallup research centre carried out eight of the surveys in eight different years, while the World Public Opinion organization conducted one survey on Israel’s proposal to strike Iran and several other institutions contributed to a separate survey on the same issue.

Israel and Iran attracted most of the pollsters’ attention with the main topics on the surveys being the general opinion that the public has on both countries and whether Israel should be allowed to attack Iran based on the potential threat that its nuclear program posses to Israel, the United States, and other countries across the world.

Canada attracted the least attention of the six countries, with its mention being based on its ranking between nineteen other countries of the poll that Gallup conducted in 2009. The poll was on a general opinion basis on international affairs.

In order to get a glimpse of what informs the opinions made by the people, it is important to look at some facts about the countries for a better understanding of the relationships that exist between the United States and the six countries.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s relations with the United States government have always been amicable. Although it is not exactly one of United States’ allies, it is also not one of its adversaries. Relations between the two governments date back to the 1960s during the Cold War, when Saudi Arabia acted as a useful ally to the United States.

The two states share a common enemy, viz. the Salafi Islamist movement, an enemy that particularly brought the two together after the September 11 bombing of the United States in 2001.

Another factor that has facilitated the cementing of relations of the two states is the valuable resources that necessitate trade between the two countries. With the adversarial relation between the United States and Iran, and the American invasion of Iran that did not result in a pro-American regime, Saudi Arabia is the United States’ best bet as far as oil consumption is concerned.

In a world affairs survey conducted by Gallups in February 2009 based on the general opinion of the American public, Saudi Arabia ranked twelfth out of nineteen countries that were subject to the study. Thirty one percent of the people interviewed gave a favorable opinion about the state while 60 per cent of the interviewees gave it an unfavorable opinion and the remainder of the percentage was either unsure or refused to comment.

The high unfavorable percentage was probably due to the repercussions of the 9/11 bombings that happened in the United States. The bombings are likely to have altered the perspectives that Americans had on Arab nations in the years before. In 2003, for instance, Americans gave it a 40 per cent favorable rating and a 54 per cent unfavorable rating. Although not much, the rating in 2003 was more favorable than it was in 2009.

Russia

Russia falls in the list of the largest countries in the world and it is runs under the governance by a federal government under President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Russia has been an ally of the United States since the Second World War and the two states have had mutually favorable ties on matters relating to the economy and the military.

However, these ties seemed to weaken during the George Bush administration due to a conflict of interests on the issue of the number of long-range nuclear weapons that a country should have, with Russia having more than the United States. The American government has also shown disapproval for the ascension to power of President Vladimir Putin who replaced Dmitry Medvedev, the current prime minister of the nation.

The main issue of contention between the United States with the Vladimir administration is the policies made by the administration that seem to affect the role of the United States in the alliance. There have also been allegations that set policies violate some of the human rights guarded by the United Nations.

For instance, some of the issues raised include the limitation on demonstrations, the institution of an adoption ban by American citizens, tightened controls on non-governmental organizations, and an expanded definition on treason. Being super-powers, both nations try to have amicable relations in order to avoid any conflict major enough to cause a war.

In a survey conducted by Gallup in 2009 on the general public opinion of the American people, Russia ranked eleventh, right after China. The total favorable vote was 40 per cent with a 53 per cent of unfavorable vote.

This voting was very evident of the tense relationship between the two nations. In an independent survey conducted between 2002 and 2009 on the issue of foreign affairs and leadership, the same percentage of unfavorable votes was attained as opposed to a 70 per cent favorable vote and 28 per cent unfavorable vote obtained in 2002.

There has been a gradual decline since 2004 where the favorable percentage was 60 per cent and the unfavorable percentage 35 per cent. In 2007, there was a decline as favorable percentage stood at 52 per cent while the unfavorable percentage was 42 per cent.

The Bush administration might have disagreed with Russia’s perspective on long-range nuclear weapons, but the current administration is focused on human rights issues, which is viewed by Russia a domestic issue that does not warrant the United States’ intrusion.

An opinion poll held in 2012 reflects the findings of the 2009 survey, with the favorable opinion falling slightly to 39 per cent and the unfavorable opinion improving slightly to 51 per cent.

Iran

Iran is located in the western part of Asia and has a unitary form of government. It is an Arab country with the main religion being Islam, governed by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmad. Although not powerful enough to fall in the ranks of other states as a super power, it is a regional power and home of the world’s oldest civilizations such as the Elamite kingdom that existed in 2800BC.

Iran and the United Sates government had a relatively calm relationship in the years preceding and during the Second World War. However, this relationship changed around 1953 when the United States, in conjunction with the United Kingdom, allegedly instigated a coup on its territory.

Although the coup led to the change of governance into an autocracy, it also led to tension between Iran and the international community. This event culminated into the Islamic revolution in 1979 that saw Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was a pro-America leader, overthrown and the Islamic republic established under Ayatollah Khomeini, the revolution’s leader.

Since then, relations with the United States have been strained and mainly adversarial with the disagreement on the issue of whether Iran should be allowed by the international community to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The American administration and the Israel’s government have raised concern on the possibility that such weapons may be used against the two countries and the United States’ allies, leading to the emergence of another global war.

According to the survey conducted by Gallup in 2009, Iran ranked nineteenth out of the nineteen countries that were the subject of the survey. This trend was the general public opinion of the American people with 80 per cent of the people giving it an unfavorable vote and only 12 per cent giving it a favorable vote.

In a study conducted by Pew research center on 15^th of February 2012, in response to the question of whether it was more important to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons or to avoid conflict with Iran, 58 per cent of the interviewees voted for prevention of nuclear development. On the other hand, 30 per cent voted on the avoidance of conflict.

In a related study in September 2011 by Independent Media Review Analysis, when asked the question whether they thought that Iran would use its nuclear weapons to attack the United States, 79.9 per cent voted “yes” while only 12 per cent voted “no” and the remainder of the people either did not know or were not sure. This realization goes to show that the American people view Iran as an unwelcome threat.

Israel

Israel has a democratic government with a prime minister as the head of government. It is also famous for its long-standing conflict over land boundaries and annexation with the Palestinians. Over the years, the United States has been in a position to build a relationship with Israel as an important ally in the Middle East region, where most of the Arab states hold it in low regard.

However, the United States has changed the form of assistance given to Israel from economic to military aid due to the impact that the continued economic aid has on the financial health of the American economy.

The United States views Israel as an important ally for even though it is a small nation, it has a strong military standing in the region as evident from its annexation of East Jerusalem. The two states also share a common adversary and perceived threat in Iran.

In a Gallup’s 2009 survey, Israel ranked seventh out of a total on nineteen countries. The American people gave it a favorable rating of 63 per cent against an unfavorable rating of 29 per cent, which was an improvement from an earlier favorable rating of 59 per cent and unfavorable rating of 30 per cent from a general opinion survey carried out in 2003.

In a separate survey in September 2011 carried out by the Independent Media Review analysis, in response of whether they thought Iran would use its nuclear weapons on Israel, 75.5 per cent of the people interviewed said ‘yes’ while 12.8 per cent responded with a ‘no’.

In the same survey, when giving opinions on whether Israel should enlist the military to ward off Iran from coming up nuclear weapons, 57 per cent said ‘yes’ in 2009 and the same percentage was reflective in 2011. Those who responded with a ‘no’ in 2009 formed 32 per cent of the vote and 31 per cent in 2009.

However, in a survey carried out in 2012 by AJC, only 37 per cent of the respondents supported an attack on Iran by Israel. This data indicates that Americans show a favorable attitude towards Israel and they would support it in an invasion on Iran in case of a nuclear threat to either Israel or the US.

China

Since the 1978 economic reforms, China has become the world’s largest growing major economy and the second largest economy both by gross domestic product ratings and purchasing power parity.

Relations between the US and China are complicated as they are neither enemies nor allies. However, they have a long-standing stable relationship built mainly on economic and military interactions. China compares to the United States in numerous aspects in terms of economy and military.

Therefore, China and the US view each other as competitors. In addition to being trade partners, both states share common views in matters regarding terrorism and nuclear weapons development.

In Gallup’s 2009 poll, China ranked tenth out of nineteen countries, with a favorable vote of 41 per cent and an unfavorable poll of 51 per cent. However, in a separate poll conducted in November 2012 by the Pew Research Centre, 65 per cent of interviewees were of the opinion that both countries have good relations, with 29 per cent holding the view that relations between the two states are bad.

Sixty six percent of the people saw China as a competitor while 15 per cent and 16 per cent were of the view that the two countries are partners and enemies respectively. The poll also revealed that 68 per cent of Americans did not consider China as a trust worthy nation while 26 per cent were of the view that it was trustworthy to a fair extent.

Fifty nine per cent of the people were more concerned with China’s economic strength than military strength, while 28 per cent were of the contrary opinion.

The main aspect revealed in the survey was that even though most Americans viewed relations between the two countries as good, a majority of the interviewees were suspicious of China’s relations with the US, with 56 per cent of the people unsettled by its economic strength rather than military strength.

Canada

Canada and the US have had a longstanding relationship that has traversed a millennium. Both countries engaged in a military collaboration that started during the World War II, and continued throughout the Cold War and it is still evident to date. They are good economic partners and their relationship that is cemented further by migration and tourism.

Foreign policies in both countries are similar and closely aligned, thus easing the interactions between the two countries. However, there have been policies that Canada seems to disagree on such as the United States’ policies on terrorism, missile defense, and whether the Northwest passage is part of Canadian territory or on international waters.

Regardless of those issues, American’s view Canada as a favorite in terms of relations, as the 2009 Gallup poll indicates. Canada was at the top of the list of nineteen countries with 90 per cent of the respondents in the survey giving it a 90 per cent favorable vote and only 6 per cent voting unfavorably.

According to the 2009 report on the survey, Canada had held the top position for the four previous years by scoring a 92 per cent favorable vote in 2008.

Analysis and conclusion

From the surveys conducted, Canada was the favorite of the six countries to the American people, while they voted Iran as the least favorite in terms of general opinion. Iran and Israel have attracted the most attention, with the issue of concern being Iran’s potential for nuclear weapons and whether Israel, an ally of the US, should attack Iran in order to prevent or halt the development of nuclear weapons.

The main study area was governance with the trend of the majority of the opinions being prejudicial, with the relationship history between the US and the six countries forming the basis of these opinions. China got a different focus, with the people viewing it as more of an economic threat than a military threat.

The majority of the opinions were predominantly negative with Canada being the only exception as far as unfavorable votes are concerned. A majority of the opinions given were interventionist with the focus being the United States’ interests in the countries and votes swaying toward the countries that indicated favorable interests for the US.