Chapter 1 > Refocused Internationalism after 9/11 > Terrorism as the Top Problem
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Chapter 1 > Refocused Internationalism after 9/11 > Terrorism as the Top Problem |
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When asked about the two or three biggest problems facing the country today (see Figure 1-1), more respondents (36%) mention terrorism than cite any other problem. This is the first time in the history of Chicago Council surveys that a foreign policy-related problem has displaced domestic concerns at the top of the list (see Figure 1-2). Terrorism did not even make the list of problems cited in 1998 or in any previous Council study-the most mentioned problem in 1998 was crime (26%), followed closely by drug abuse (21%).
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The concern about terrorism has heightened Americans' focus on a variety of related problems. Defense, foreign relations, and war are the fourth, seventh, and tenth most commonly cited problems respectively in 2002. None of them made the top 10 in 1998. When added together, problems related to foreign policy are mentioned more requently as among the two or three biggest problems facing the country (41% of total responses) than in any previous Chicago Council study, up 34 points from 7% in 1998 (see Figure 1-3)
For everymention of a foreign policy problem in 2002, there was only about one mention of a domestic problem, compared to roughly fifteen domestic mentions in 1998.While terrorism and related international concerns have clearly moved to the forefront, they have not by any means eclipsed domestic, especially economic, concerns. The economy (22%), education (11%), and unemployment (9%) are the second, third, and fifth most mentioned problems respectively, and significant numbers of people cite drug abuse, health care, crime, poverty, and the environment. Among all problems mentioned, domestic issues still predominate.
Turning to Americans' foreign policy agenda, terrorism again clearly stands at the top (see Figure 1-4) . When asked to mention the two or three biggest foreign policy problems facing the United States, more respondents (33%) mention terrorism than cite any other problem: almost three times as many as mention the next most salient problem (the Middle East situation, at 12%). Terrorism stands among the most frequently cited foreign policy problems in all Chicago Council surveys since 1974. (Foreign aid was mentioned by 33% in 1974, and 31% mentioned the arms race in 1986.)
Although terrorism also topped the list of foreign policy problems in 1998-that poll was taken shortly after the terrorist bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania-only a much lower 12% of the public mentioned it at that time. In fact, more people (21%) said "don't know" than gave any other response, showing the relatively low salience of international problems in the minds of Americans prior to September 11. Concern about the world economy and the balance of payments were second and third on the list in 1998, at 11% and 10% mentioning them, respectively. In 2002 these concerns dropped to 3% and 2%, respectively.
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