How does the U.S. public currently see the world and America's role in it? There's no simple answer. The polling data -- and interpretations of the data -- often seem contradictory. The following "interview" with a virtual John/Jane Q. Public is designed to shed some light on this subject by bringing to life a composite of majority or median public positions, based on responses to scores of recent polls and surveys. An annotated version of this interview that includes the actual poll questions and responses can be found at www.usintheworld.org.

 

Scattered throughout the interview are excerpts from some of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking research on public attitudes toward U.S. foreign policy. These excerpts focus on "where the public is coming from" --not on the results of message testing or on the communications implications of opinion research findings. Messaging recommendations from the experts quoted here, and others, were synthesized as part of the U.S. in the World process and are reflected throughout the guide.