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Contact: Christopher Whitney - 312/821 7516 - CCFR Julianne Smith - 202/745 6665, 202/745 0058 - GMF "Americans Strongly Prefer Multilateralism in War and Peace" Landmark Survey Finds “A World Transformed” One Year After September 11 WASHINGTON, D.C., October 2, 2002 - The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (CCFR) and the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) announce the release of the full findings of "Worldviews 2002," the most comprehensive survey ever conducted of U.S. and European foreign policy attitudes. This is the second and final phase of the release for these survey findings. The first release on September 4, 2002 focused on findings related to 9-11 and to transatlantic relations. New findings in this release include: The American public shows strong support for a broadly multilateral foreign policy and prefers working through international institutions and treaties. Substantial majorities of Americans support the United States participating in the International Criminal Court (71%), the Kyoto Protocol on global warming (64%), the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (81%) and the treaty banning the use of land mines (75%). Seventy-seven percent of Americans believe the UN needs to be strengthened, and an equal proportion support having UN members each commit 1,000 troops to a rapid deployment force that the UN Security Council can call up on short notice when a crisis occurs. Fifty-one percent of Americans support giving the UN the power to fund its activities by imposing a small tax on such things as the international sale of arms or oil. Findings released on September 4 showed that Americans and Europeans are much more willing to use force in a variety of scenarios, including an invasion of Iraq, when there is UN approval and multilateral involvement. Americans feel much less threatened by economic competition from abroad than they did four years ago, even as they express concern about the state of the U.S. economy and the impact of trade and globalization on jobs at home. Economic competition from Japan is seen as a critical threat to U.S. vital interests by only 29% of Americans, down from 45% in 1998. The percentages have also declined for economic competition from Europe (13%, down from 24% in 1998) and economic competition from low-wage countries (31%, down from 40%). Americans generally support the idea of free trade, but majorities favor placing conditions on that trade for the protection of workers at home and abroad and for the environment. While a modest majority (56%) say globalization is mostly good for the United States, a majority (51%) also say it is mostly bad for the job security of American workers and only 14% feel that the U.S. should actively promote it. Americans show a heightened concern about the Arab/Israeli conflict, but want the United States to remain evenhanded in the conflict. Sixty-seven percent feel that military conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors is a critical threat to the vital interests of the United States. Seventy-one percent believe the United States should not take either side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even though 58% think that the United States now generally takes Israel's side. Forty percent favor the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Four years after the Asian financial crisis and in light of Japan's continued economic difficulties, Europe's importance to the United States as compared to that of Asia has risen. But China's growing power is seen as a threat. Fifty-eight percent think that Europe is more important to the United States, compared to 27% who believe that Asia is more important. The figure for Europe is up from 42% and the Asia figure is about the same in 1998. China is seen as on the rise, with 72% saying it will play a greater role in the next 10 years than it does now. Fifty-six percent believe that the development of China as a world power is a critical threat to the vital interests of the United States, and 53% think that China practices unfair trade with the United States. The American public does not consider key African countries to be of very high concern, but shows increased support for giving economic aid to Africa. The percent who believe that economic aid to African countries should be increased (35%) is up 11 percentage points compared to 1998. This figure is higher than that of any of the seven other countries or peoples asked about. This release also includes results of the CCFR/GMF U.S. leadership sample, comprised of leaders with direct and indirect influence over foreign policy. The leaders were asked many of the same questions as the public. There is a surprising consensus among the U.S. leadership and public on many controversial issues, such as opposition to a unilateral U.S. invasion of Iraq and opposition to the first use of nuclear weapons. There are also sharp differences, many long-standing, on issues such as immigration and trade. Highlights of the findings released in early September include: A year after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Americans are more focused on the world beyond their borders than in any previous Chicago Council survey. Europeans are also more concerned about international terrorism than any other threat, and despite reports of rising anti-Americanism in Europe, they show very positive feelings toward the United States and view the foreign policy landscape in much the same way as Americans. Both Americans and Europeans are willing to use force in a wide variety of circumstances and both strongly support multilateral approaches to solving international problems. There are, however, some significant policy differences between Americans and Europeans on issues such as Arab-Israeli conflict and defense spending. The full U.S. and European findings are being released in three separate reports, one on the American data, one on the European data, and one on the comparisons between European and American attitudes. Sponsoring Organizations This is the first time The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and the German Marshall Fund of the United States have conducted a joint study. It builds on the quadrennial study of U.S. attitudes on foreign policy conducted by CCFR since 1974. The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations is one of the largest independent, nonprofit international affairs organizations in the United States. The Council provides members, specialized groups, and the general public with a forum for the consideration of significant international issues and their bearing on American foreign policy. The Council's goal is to further awareness and broaden understanding of international relations and foreign policy. The German Marshall Fund of the United States is an American institution that stimulates the exchange of ideas and promotes cooperation between the United States and Europe in the spirit of the postwar Marshall Plan. The GMF's programs promote the study of international and domestic policies, support comparative research and debate on key issues, and assist policy and opinion leaders' understanding of these issues. Worldviews 2002 Methodology The U.S. public survey consists of 3,262 interviews (2,862 by telephone and 400 face-to-face) comprising a representative national sample of American men and women, 18 years of age or older. The leadership survey consists of 397 interviews with U.S. opinion leaders and decision makers. The European survey consists of telephone interviews (except in Poland, where the face-to-face method was used) with representative national samples of 1,000 men and women, 18 years of age or older, in each of six countries-Great Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Poland. The surveys were conducted by Harris Interactive in the United States and by MORI in Europe, with the fieldwork for both surveys begun on June 5 and completed July 6 in Europe and July 10 in the United States. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is +/- 3 percentage points for each European country and varies between 2 and 4 percentage points for the United States. A U.S. survey has been conducted every four years since 1974. # # #