NEW YORK, Aug 7: Public opinion poll in the US has revealed on Monday that a majority of “Americans believe that people around the world are growing more afraid that the US will use force against them and that this diminishes US national security and increases the likelihood that countries will pursue weapons of mass destruction”.
The poll released by a non-profit organisation named World Public Opinion (which compiles a digest of polls), says that Americans “believe that the US is viewed negatively by people in other countries and see this as derived primarily from the current US foreign policy, not American values.”
Understating that most people “see goodwill towards the United States as important for US national security”, the poll said a large majority is opposed to the way it perceives the US is playing the role of hegemon or dominant world leader. Americans express surprisingly modest concern for preserving the US role as the sole superpower.
A very strong majority favours a US role in the world that puts a greater emphasis on US participation in multilateral efforts to deal with international problems and on a cooperative approach wherein the US is quite attentive to the views of other countries, not just US interests. Very strong majorities favour the US working through international institutions (especially the United Nations) and support making international institutions more powerful.
Americans support US participation in collective security structures and are reluctant to use military force except as part of multilateral efforts. A large majority favours the US using multilateral approaches for dealing with terrorism, addressing international environmental issues, and giving aid for economic development, the WPO digest says.
A very strong majority supports US engagement in the world and rejects the idea that the US should take a more isolationist stance. However strong and growing majorities show dissatisfaction with key aspects of the current US role in the world and see it as destabilising. A majority supports US military bases on the soil of traditional US allies, though support for US military presence in the Middle East has become quite soft.
A large majority of Americans feel that US foreign policy should at times serve altruistic purposes independent of US national interests. Americans also feel that US foreign policy should be oriented to the global interest not just the national interest and are highly responsive to arguments that serving the global interest ultimately serves the national interest.
Noting that the Americans have complex attitudes about the idea of promoting democracy the poll also revealed that a majority thinks that promoting democracy should be a goal of US foreign policy. However there is a reluctance to make democracy promotion a central theme in US foreign policy and an opposition to using military force or the threat of military force to that end. At the same time Americans do feel a moral obligation to promote democracy and there is substantial support for cooperative methods for promoting democracy.