The percentage of Americans who believe the United States has an obligation to police the world is the lowest it’s ever been in over 20 years of asking, a new poll indicates.
Only 65% of US residents now report believing the country should play a “leading” or “major” role in “trying to solve international problems,” a survey conducted by Gallup found. It’s one percentage point below the lowest total recorded by the polling group since it first began asking the question in 2001.
A graph created by Gallup shows a gradual decline in Americans’ desire to manage global affairs.
© Courtesy of Gallup
The biggest jump in agnosticism towards American interventionism was recorded among Republicans. Only 61% of GOP-leaning respondents said the US should play a “leading” or “major” role in solving the world’s problems — down from 87% in 2003, the data shows.
It’s a view now endorsed by just 61% of American Independents as well.
Meanwhile, 38% of Republicans and 37% of Independents responded that the US should play a “minor” part or have “no role at all” in global affairs, a view endorsed by just 25% of Democrat voters.
Anti-interventionist sentiment in the US — traditionally considered to be a left-wing phenomenon — has migrated to the right since the Obama presidency.
© Courtesy of Gallup
From 2004 to 2005, just 68% of Democrats believed the US should be center stage in global conflicts, according to Gallup. Now that number has reached a full 75%, buoyed by the party’s embrace of the so-called ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine and years of mainstream media Russiagate messaging which blamed Moscow for the Trump presidency.
Though Biden may currently have his base’s blessing to continue poking his nose in international conflicts, the poll contained some disappointing news for the commander-in-chief.
Only “thirty-seven percent of Americans say leaders of other countries respect Biden,” Gallup reported — nearly a 20-point drop from the 58% he received early in his presidential term.
In addition, the number of Americans who believe the rest of the world views the US favorably remains underwater.
Respondents were almost perfectly split on the issue, with 51% believing others see the US positively, and 49% saying they think the country is viewed in a negative light. The answers carried a clear partisan slant, with Gallup noting that “two-thirds of Democrats (67%), a slim majority of Independents (51%) and 27% of Republicans believe the US rates favorably in the eyes of the world.”