Mass and Elite Foreign Policy Opinions

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Band 46, Heft 3, S. 368-382

Abstract

Since the Vietnam War, public preferences on foreign policy issues have played a greater role in the US political process. Yet comparatively little is known about the manner in which attitudes on international affairs are formed & how they are related to political cognitions. Data from 2 studies of foreign policy opinion conducted by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations in 1974 & 1978 are used to examine the question of how mass & elite opinion differs in a number of policy domains & determine whether these distinctions changed over the 4 years. The 1974 study consisted of personal interviews with a random national sample of 1,513 mass Rs & 328 elites; in 1978, 1,546 individuals from the general public & 366 elites were interviewed. Comparisons of % differences on identical questions between groups & between years are employed in analyzing these data. In general, there are patterns of difference in the foreign policy beliefs of the elites & the mass public, the most striking being in their "internationalist" view of the US role in world affairs, with smaller distinctions in the domains of Americanism, human rights, detente, world problems, & international organizations. 9 Tables. AA.