XarxaAsia

Foreign Affairs and Public Agenda just relaleased the new Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index (every six months, since 2005) that shows that the Anxiety Indicator has grown 3,5% for the last six months. You can download the full report here or you might prefere the multimedia animation in here.

The main findings are:

• Provides mounting evidence of widespread public doubt about the country’s international position. Using a scale of 1 to 200, the Index’s “Anxiety Indicator” gauges Americans’ anxiousness or contentment with the nation’s foreign policy (where 1 is most content and 200 most anxious). The Spring 2007 Anxiety Indicator stands at 137, well above the neutral mid-point of 100 and a seven-point increase since September 2006.

• Shows that the public’s disenchantment is leading to increased skepticism about the use of military force and a corresponding inclination to favor diplomatic options instead. As far as the vast majority of Americans are concerned, for example, military force should be “off the table” in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program and its possible meddling in Iraq. Nor is the public confident about using military force as a tool for dealing with other countries’ developing weapons of mass destruction — even though controlling the spread of such weapons is the public’s top policy priority.
• Reveals that concern about global warming has increased significantly. Three-quarters of those surveyed say they worry about global warming, up 7 points from six months ago. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) believe that international cooperation can reduce global warming and 34 percent say the U.S. government can do “a lot” about the problem.