Few Americans want the US to take a more active role in global problem-solving: Poll

Few Americans say the United States should take a more active role in solving global problems, but partisans are split on whether they think the U.S. should take a less active role on the world stage, according to a new poll released Wednesday from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Only 23 percent of respondents say they think the U.S. should take a more active role in solving the world’s problems — a view shared by Democrats (23 percent), Republicans (24 percent) and independents (21 percent).

However, 53 percent of Republican respondents say the U.S. should take a less active role in solving the world’s problems, with only 25 percent of Democrats sharing this view.

On the other hand, 52 percent of Democrat respondents say the U.S.’s current role on the global stage “is about right,” and only 22 percent of Republicans say they feel the same.

Nearly half of U.S. adult respondents (40 percent) and independents (47 percent) say the U.S. should take a less active role, compared with 36 percent of U.S. adults overall and 28 percent of independents who think the U.S.’s current role is “about right.”

The poll captures a difficult issue going into the November presidential election, with the leading candidates from each party holding starkly different policy views.

While former President Trump embraces an “America-first” isolationist foreign policy perspective, President Biden has played a significant role in strengthening NATO and global alliances, especially in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The AP/NORC Center survey also asks specifically about the U.S.’s role in the Ukraine-Russia war and the Israel-Hamas war.

Among U.S. adult and independent respondents, there is no statistically significant difference in their views about the U.S.’s role in each war.

Among Republican respondents, 52 percent say the U.S. should take a less active role in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, compared with 18 percent of Democrats who say the same.

The gap narrows on the Israel-Hamas war, with 38 percent of Republican respondents supporting a less active role and 28 percent of Democrats supporting a less active role.

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About 4 in 10 adult respondents say the U.S.’s role is “about right” in both wars, about 20 percent say the U.S. should take a more active role in both, and 36 percent say the U.S. should take a less active role.

About half of independent respondents say the U.S. should take a less active role in the Ukraine-Russia war (47 percent) and the Israel-Hamas war (50 percent). About a third say the U.S.’s role is “about right,” and slightly more than 1 in 10 independent respondents say they support the U.S. taking a more active role.

The poll was conducted with 1,102 U.S. adults from Feb. 22-26. There’s a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points for the full sample.