5
EU, and other foreign countries), as well as those who favor the United States taking an
active part in world affairs, liberals, and Democrats.
3
On these issues, however, the similarities among Americans are more important
than the differences. Majorities even of conservatives and Republicans favor a wide
range of cooperative international policies. Such cooperative and multilateral policies, of
course, have been pursued by a number of Republican administrations, including those of
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, and George H.W. Bush, though much less so
by the administration of George W. Bush.
Desires for Diplomacy and Multilateral Decision Making
As we noted in Chapter 4, most Americans in 2002 – by a 71% to 17% margin –
rejected the idea that, as the sole remaining superpower, the U.S. should “continue to be
the preeminent world leader in solving international problems,” saying instead that the
U.S. should “do its share in efforts to solve international problems together with other
countries.” Similarly, most Americans, by 61% to 31%, rejected the proposition that in
responding to international crises the United States should “take action alone, if it does
not have the support of its allies”; most said the U.S. should not act alone.
Support for Cooperation with European and other allies. A number of
tensions between the U.S. government and European governments long preceded
disagreements over the Iraq war: tensions over such matters as U.S. rejection of treaties
on global warming, anti-ballistic-missiles, and the International Criminal Court, as well
as European agricultural policies and restrictions on genetically modified organisms, and
U.S. barriers to trade in steel and agricultural products. Despite the government-level
Convention