DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04136.v1
title: Global Views 2004: Mexican Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
title: Version 1

description: The 2004 Mexico Global Views Survey is the first ever comprehensive study of Mexican public and leadership opinion on international affairs. The study is designed to measure general attitudes and values concerning Mexico's relationship with the world rather than opinions on specific foreign policies or issues. This year's survey was conducted in cooperation with the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations' (CCFR) study GLOBAL VIEWS 2004: AMERICAN PUBLIC OPINION AND FOREIGN POLICY (ICPSR 4137). Approximately one-third of the questions on the Mexican and American surveys were asked of the general public in both countries. The thematic emphases of the surveys are the rules and norms of foreign policy interaction between nations and within international organizations and the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States. The Mexico survey also emphasizes Mexico's foreign policy decision-making processes as well as its relations with other countries and regions. Part 1 contains data pertaining to a survey conducted to interview members of Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales, A.C. (The Mexican Council on Foreign Relations - COMEXI). Part 2 is a survey of the general public. In particular, this study covers (1) Mexicans, Mexican identity, and the world, (2) Mexico's role in the world, (3) global governance, the use of force, and international institutions, (4) foreign relations, and (5) relations with the United States. Regarding Mexicans, Mexican identity, and the world, respondents were asked the importance they placed on various government activities, their interest in the news, their contact with the world, their sense of self-identity, and whether Mexico should have its own foreign policy or follow the United States' lead. On the topic of Mexico's role in the world, respondents were asked their views on the direction of the world, critical threats to Mexico's vital interests, and Mexico's role against terrorism and in world affairs. Concerning global governance, the use of force, and international institutions, respondents rated several international organizations, and commented on the impact of globalization, and foreign investment. On the subject of foreign relations, respondents provided their views on why it was important for Mexico to diversify its relations with the countries of Europe, Latin America, and Asia, the importance of other regions in the world, how to handle disputes in Latin American countries, and their feelings on several individual countries. Regarding relations with the United States, respondents were asked how they felt toward the United States, how much cooperation they favored between the United States and Mexico, who was more responsible for handling common United States-Mexico problems, and their feeling on the North American Free Trade Agreement. A set of influential policy leaders was asked their attitudes in order to assess whether the attitudes of the leaders aligned with those of the general public. Background information on respondents includes gender, age, education, employment status, income, religion, and political party affiliation.
description: Response Rates: No information was provided regarding response rates for Part 1. The overall response rate for Part 2 was 60 percent.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS0: Study-Level Files 
 DS1: Leaders Data 
 DS2: General Public Data
description: American Public Opinion and United States Foreign Policy Series
description: The data files may contain foreign language characters.
The data contain weight variables that should be used for analysis.
description: Part 1: Members of Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales, A.C. (The Mexican Council on Foreign Relations - COMEXI). Part 2: Adult population of Mexico aged 18 and older.
description: For Part 1, of the 230 total members of COMEXI, all 176 who were Mexican and living in Mexico were contacted by telephone. Eighty-two of those contacted completed the survey. While the leadership survey should not be considered representative of Mexico's political, business, and cultural leadership, it does reliably capture a significant sector of these leaders with an interest in and influence on Mexico's foreign policy. They include administration officials belonging to different ministries as well as other agencies dealing with foreign policy, members of Congress (senators and deputies) or their staff, state government officials or staff and administrators, active members of Mexico's political parties, business and financial executives, university faculty and researchers, leaders of organizations active in foreign affairs, top executives of consulting firms, journalists from Mexico's major newspapers as well as writers and staff of major magazines and foreign policy publications, and leaders of trade associations. For Part 2, the general public survey was based on a probabilistic sample design. Respondents in the north states bordering the United States and the relatively sparsely populated regions of the southeast were oversampled. The sample design was based on a list of 63,594 election stations defined by the Federal Election Institute for the 2003 Mexico federal elections. The selection process used was multistage sampling, in which the first stage was the grouping of sections in the same state and township. This produced 6,080 section conglomerates. The selection of 75 conglomerates was then done through random sampling with probabilities proportional to the size of the electoral list. The second stage consisted of choosing two electoral sections inside a conglomerate, selected through random sampling with probabilities proportional to the size of the sections. In the next stages, blocks and then residences were selected randomly with equal probabilities. Within the residences, respondents were chosen using quotas for age and sex based on known demographic characteristics, according to the 2000 Mexican Census.