Are we drowning at the water’s edge? Foreign policy polarization among the US Public

Abstract

Several empirical measures of congressional voting prove that partisanship has reached new heights at some point during the past 5 years. Public opinion surveys can help to show whether this political division has seeped into the public zeitgeist. While Republicans and Democrats generally agree on the general outlines and goals of US foreign policy, in recent years their longstanding differences on the importance of working within a multilateral framework and the threats posed by immigration and climate change have accelerated. There are also new cracks in previously shared opinion toward China, Russia, and Israel. And recent polls show that assessments of the US administration’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak also breaks along partisan lines. The outcome of the 2020 election is not likely to help bridge these divides nor neutralize the risks of continuing polarization.