Poll: Majority of Americans want US leadership role on global stage

2024-12-07 20:30:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Most Americans want the United States to lead on the global stage with a strong military. An overwhelming majority of them want to increase spending on national defense, according to the most recent "Reagan" National Defense Survey.

Despite Americans electing a president who ran on an "America First" agenda that focused on domestic issues ranging from the U.S. economy to securing the nation's southern border, 57% of respondents said this year they wanted see the United States as more engaged and taking a greater leadership role in international developments, compared to just 42% a year ago.

Nearly 80% of Americans polled support increased government spending on the US military, a slight increase from last year. Increasing military spending ranked above some of the other US foreign policy priorities, such as promoting freedom abroad (61%) and providing aid to other countries (43%).

"The 'Reagan' National Defense polls show once again that Americans are not pacifists and we are not isolationists. We want a federal government that serves American interests and protects our country," Bradley Bowman, a member of the National Security Council, told VOA on Friday. of the polling advisory board and director of the Center for Military and Political Power at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Poll: Majority of Americans want US leadership role on global stage

Bradley Bowman

The Ronald Reagan Institute has been polling American public opinion on national security for the past six years, and the latest poll, released Thursday, included a bipartisan measure of about 2,500 Americans who were polled two days after November's presidential election.

Most respondents said they support continued US security support for Ukraine and allowing Ukraine to use US weaponry to strike inside Russia. Nearly 60% of respondents believe that the Russia-Ukraine conflict will end with Ukraine negotiating peace, even if it means giving up part of its sovereign territory.

Support for Ukraine varied widely among voters for the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, compared to voters for the Republican nominee, President-elect Donald Trump, with 74% of Ms. Harris' voters supporting sending aid, compared with just 42% of Mr. Trump's voters.

Donald Trump

An overwhelming majority of 80% see Russia as an adversary.

For Israel, 54% of respondents supported continued US aid, but Americans were split, 45% to 45%, on whether Israel has the right to continue military operations, or whether Israel's military action in Gaza has gone on long enough. and a truce should be called.

Only about half of those surveyed think the United States would prevail in a conflict with China, with about the same number thinking China is the biggest threat to the United States.

If China invades Taiwan, nearly three-quarters of respondents said the United States should formally recognize Taiwan as an independent country. Two-thirds agree that the United States should respond with economic sanctions against China, and over half (56%) support sending more military equipment to Taiwan, as well as sending more military units to the region, such as aircraft carriers.

The majority of Americans polled believe that the US military should be large enough to win two wars that can be fought at the same time./ VOA