American and Iranian Public Opinion: The Quest for Common Grounds

Abstract

The authors use data from the World Values Survey to assess similarities and differences in core political, religious, social, and economic values of the United States and Iran. They find Americans and Iranians place high importance on family, religion, and work, but that politics and political organizations have relatively little importance for them. Both peoples value economic growth above other national goals. Americans are more trusting of some features of capitalism as well as of democratic organizations. Conceivably, the American and Iranian governments could turn to these shared values should Washington and Tehran decide to normalize relations