A blog on public opinion, probabilities, and all things data from the Lester Crown Center on US Foreign Policy.

Commentary and analysis on public opinion, national security, US foreign policy, international issues, and Chicago's global connections and news.

In some countries the year of the pandemic is coming to a close, with successful vaccination campaigns providing an exit from pandemic restrictions. But that’s not the case everywhere.

The US government averted a shutdown after lawmakers in Congress reached a temporary, 45-day deal to extend a continuing resolution to keep the government funded.

August 12, 2024, RESEARCH Public Opinion Survey by Libby Berry, J. Scott Applewhite / AP, The public wants to increase the budget for domestic issues like infrastructure and education but is divided over defense spending and foreign assistance., The federal budget is a perennial election issue in...

February 6, 2025, RESEARCH Public Opinion Survey by Craig Kafura , Dina Smeltz , Jordan Tama , and Joshua Busby, Chiang Ying-ying / AP, Download Report (PDF), Across party lines, however, opinion leaders oppose sending US troops to Taiwan to aid Taipei's defense should China invade., As Donald Tr...

Council experts analyze global public opinion after the WHO officially declared the spread of COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Decades of integration between the two North American neighbors risks coming undone.

February 12, 2026, RESEARCH Public Opinion Survey by Lama El Baz , Dina Smeltz , and Craig Kafura, Iryna Rybakova / Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP, Download Report (PDF), They are also divided on the United States’ participation in Europe’s “Coalition of the Willing” to defend a...

Find out how this Eastern European poster child for democracy backslid into autocracy, and what lessons it holds for the rest of the West.