Fifty years of Chicago Council on Global Affairs polling reveals significant reservoirs of cross-party agreement and a strong base of public support for a more cooperative approach to world affairs.
"America has had military bases in Greenland for decades,” says Council Director of Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Craig Kafura. "The idea of needing to conquer Greenland, needing Greenland to be part of the United States for U.S. national security just isn't true."
The US capture of Venezuela’s Maduro echoed intents outlined by Trump in the 2025 National Security Strategy. While the action might have appealed to his Republican base, the strategy’s principles are mostly out of step with US public opinion on America’s engagement in the world.
"Beijing’s efforts to strike a nationalist chord among Chinese citizens regarding Taiwanese unification might not be easily transmitted," the Council's Dina Smeltz and Craig Kafura write.
"There are some encouraging signs if you’re sitting in China and you’ve been arguing for a more diplomacy-heavy approach toward the United States," Craig Kafura says.
At least half of all partisans see government corruption and weakening democracy as critical threats, but they are deeply divided on climate change and immigration.
Trump mostly spoke for himself and a small, but vocal, segment of the Republican Party when denouncing immigration, climate action, and multilateralism at the UN General Assembly.
