DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04137
title: Global Views 2004: American Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
title: Archival Version

description: This study is part of a quadrennial series designed to
investigate the opinions and attitudes of the general public and a
select group of opinion leaders on matters related to foreign policy,
and to define the parameters of public opinion within which
decision-makers must operate. Part 1 consists of data acquired from
interviews of leaders with foreign policy power, specialization, and
expertise. These include Congressional members or their senior staff,
university administrators and academics who teach in the area of
international relations, journalists and editorial staff who handle
international news, administration officials and other senior staff in
various agencies and offices dealing with foreign policy, religious
leaders, senior business executives from FORTUNE 1,000 corporations,
labor presidents of the largest labor unions, presidents of major
private foreign policy organizations, and presidents of major special
interest groups relevant to foreign policy. For Part 2, the Chicago
Council on Foreign Relations (CCFR) conducted its opinion survey of
the American general public through the Internet. In particular, this
study covers the global United States position, international norms
and the use of force, multilateralism and international institutions,
international norms and economic relations, and policy attitudes and
perceptions of United States leaders and the public. Regarding the
global United States position, respondents were asked to give their
opinions on threats to the vital interests that most Americans
consider critical, the fundamental foreign policy goals that they want
to pursue, how much they are willing to spend on foreign
policy-related items, whether they favor the United States having
military bases overseas in general and their support for stationing
troops in various specified countries, their views on the Middle East,
how active the United States should be in world affairs, their
willingness to take action against terrorism, and their support for
diplomatic and other nonmilitary actions to solve conflicts. On the
topic of international norms and the use of force, respondents gave
their opinions on adhering to traditional norms and empowering the
United Nations, preventive action against a state seeking weapons of
mass destruction, using force against a state supporting terrorists,
the use of nuclear weapons, the use of torture, using force against a
state conduction genocide, using force to restore a democratic
government, and defending a country that has been attacked. Concerning
multilateralism and international institutions, respondents were asked
their level of support for collective decision-making through
international institutions and for empowering the United Nations,
their attitudes toward other major international organizations, their
support for international agreements, their desire to seek consensus
among nations, and their opinions on the idea of spreading
democracy. On the subject of international norms and economic
relations, respondents were asked about pursuing free trade with
certain conditions, globalization and trade in principle, their
support for the trading system and institutions, their concerns about
inequities, and their opinions on mitigating the effects of trade,
achieving equity in trade, trade as a strategic tool, responsibility
for development aid, regional trade agreements, and migration. For the
sake of comparison, Parts 1 and 2 include many of the same questions
asked of both groups. Background information on respondents includes
religion, age, income, education, gender, marital status, and
employment status. Part 3 is a special telephone survey of the general
public designed to be directly comparable to the telephone survey of
2002.
description: For Part 1, members of the House of Representatives and
 Senate were selected from the CONGRESSIONAL YELLOW BOOK. If the House
 or Senate member was not available, the interview was conducted with a
 senior staffer responsible for foreign affairs. The FEDERAL YELLOW
 BOOK was used to interview assistant secretaries and other senior
 level administrative staff. The FORTUNE 1000 list was used to select
 names of vice presidents in charge of international affairs in top
 corporations. NEWS MEDIA YELLOW BOOK was used to select names of
 television and radio news directors, network newscasters, and
 newspaper editors and columnists. The CAPITAL SOURCE was used to
 select names of presidents of the largest labor unions. United States
 NEWS AND WORLD REPORT 2003 list of the top 50 doctoral research
 institutions in the United States was used to select names of
 university presidents and faculty who teach in the field of foreign
 affairs at universities. Names of religious leaders representing
 faiths proportionate to the number of Americans who worship each faith
 were selected from the YEARBOOK OF AMERICAN AND CANADIAN CHURCHES
 2004. The CAPITAL SOURCE was used to select names of presidents of
 large special interest groups relevant to foreign policy as well as to
 select names of presidents of major private foreign policy
 organizations. For Part 2, the Internet surveys were conducted by
 Knowledge Networks. They utilized list-assisted Random Digit Dialing
 (RDD) sampling techniques on the sample frame consisting of the entire
 United States telephone population. Telephone numbers were selected
 with equal probability for each number. The sample generation system
 excluded confirmed disconnected and nonresidential telephone
 numbers. Next, the sample was screened to exclude numbers that were
 not in the WebTV Internet Service Provider network. Telephone numbers
 for which a valid postal address was recovered were sent an advance
 mailing informing them that they had been selected to participate in
 the Knowledge Networks Panel. To conduct the survey, a sample was
 drawn at random from active panel members using an implicitly
 stratified systematic sample design. Information regarding the
sampling process for Part 3 was not made available.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Leaders Data
DS2: General Public Data
DS3: Small Telephone Survey of General Public
description: Part 1: Leaders in the United States, including members of
Congress, business leaders, journalists, labor leaders, academic
leaders, religious leaders, and leaders of major private foreign
policy organizations. Parts 2, 3: Adult population of the United
States.
description: The data contain weight variables that should be
used for analysis.