Public Opinion Surveys
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has been conducting public opinion surveys for more than 50 years, the results of which help to shape policy debates and inform decisions on the most consequential foreign policy issues facing the United States.
Explore our core areas of public opinion research below, or view all Council research.
Chicago Council Survey
The Chicago Council Survey, conducted annually, provides the most comprehensive view of American public opinion on US foreign policy issues, highlighting critical trends and shifts in thinking over time since 1974.
Flash Polling
The Council regularly partners with Ipsos to gauge US public opinion on the major foreign policy issues dominating the news. These short polls are conducted as needed to supplement the annual Chicago Council Survey.
Opinion Leader Surveys
These biannual surveys of those with an outsized influence over the direction of US foreign policy—including government, media, business, think tank, religious, and academic leaders—compare trends in expert thinking against public attitudes.
International Surveys
Conducted with international partner organizations, these surveys explore how publics around the world think about critical global issues.
Meet the Experts
Dina Smeltz
Vice President, Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
Dina Smeltz, a polling expert, has more than 25 years of experience designing and fielding international social and political surveys. Prior to joining the Council to lead its annual survey of American attitudes on US foreign policy, she served in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the US State Department's Office of Research from 1992 to 2008.
Craig Kafura
Director, Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
Craig Kafura is the director of public opinion and foreign policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project, and a Pacific Forum Young Leader. At the Council, he coordinates work on public opinion and foreign policy and is a regular contributor to the public opinion and foreign policy blog Running Numbers.
Karl Friedhoff
Marshall M. Bouton Fellow for Asia Studies
Karl Friedhoff was a Korea Foundation-Mansfield Foundation US-Korea Nexus Scholar and a member of the Mansfield Foundation’s Trilateral Working Group prior to joining the Council. Previously, he was a program officer in the Public Opinion Studies Program at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies based in Seoul, South Korea.