US sours on global role, looks to Asia - poll
Younger Americans are ‘comfortable’ with the Islamic
world and China:
US: Eleven years after the September 11 attacks a record number in
the United States want a less active global role -- and Americans for
the first time see Asia as more important than Europe.
The poll by the Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs found strong
differences by age range, with younger Americans the most comfortable
with the Islamic world and China and the least enthusiastic about the
use of US force abroad.
The poll, released on the eve of the anniversary of the September 11
terror attacks, said 67 percent of Americans did not consider the Iraq
war worth fighting and only 30 percent said that the Afghanistan
intervention made the United States safer. Sixty-one percent of
Americans said that the United States should take an active role in
world affairs, but the 38 percent who disagreed marked the highest level
taken by the Chicago Council or comparable polls since 1947.
Nonetheless, 70 percent of Americans described their country as the
greatest in the world.
“There's a strong sense of specialness that Americans have and this
is across generational and partisan lines,” said Marshall Bouton,
president of the Chicago Council.
The dwindling support for foreign wars is “not a discouragement about
the character of their nation. It's an assessment in their minds that...
the United States has got to trim its sails in certain respects,” he
said.
The study showed public backing for diplomacy and aid, particularly
to Africa, and support for cutting military spending.
Age groups differed on key issues. Only 23 percent of Americans
between 18 and 29 years old said Islamic fundamentalism would pose a
critical threat over the next 10 years, far down from the 50 percent
over age 60 who said so.
AFP
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