Americans are growing warier and gloomier

Has ….. trauma of Iraq made …..Americans more isolationists? ….. new poll, released on November 17^lh, finds some evidence that it has. ….. Pew Research Centre periodically asks ….. sample of …...opinion leaders, and another sample of ….. general public, …..barrage of questions about "America's place in the world". Their answers are getting gloomier.

This is especially true of ….. elite. Asked whether America will succeed in establishing ….. stable democracy in Iraq, only 33% of journalists, 27% of academics and 13% of scientists and engineers thought it would. ….. general public were more optimistic - 56% thought their country would eventually prevail. Among ….. elite, only military officers were cheerier, with 64% predicting victory.

As for George Bush's calls for democracy in ….. wider Middle East, most Americans thought this was ….. good idea, but …..few thought it would succeed. ….. general public were divided: 22% thought it ….. bad idea, 36% ….. good idea that would probably succeed. ….. large majority of ….. elite thought it ….. good idea that would probably fail, with ….. exception of …..military and religious leaders, who were more optimistic.

Two-thirds of Americans thought their country was less respected than in ….. past. ….. most popular explanation was ….. war in Iraq. ….. whopping 88% of ….. elite cited Iraq as one of ….. main factors driving anti-Americanism, as did 71% of ….. general public.

Presumably because of this, …..elite and regular Americans alike arc feeling less gung-ho. All elite groups (apart from ….. armed forces, for which no data were available) were less likely than they were in 1993 to say that America should be ….. most assertive of …..leading nations. Among …..state and local government leaders, ….. proportion fell from 78% to 54%. And among ….. general public, ….. proportion who thought that America should "mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along ….. best they can on their own" rose from 30% in 2002 to 42% this year. This is comparable with ….. peaks of isolationist sentiment alter ….. Vietnam war and after ….. cold war ended.

Mr Bush can perhaps dismiss ….. defeatist mood of ….. elite. As Pew's researchers admit, ….. opinion leaders they interviewed were mostly Democrats. But ….. president cannot dismiss ….. public's growing desire not to have to deal with ….. sort of people who strap bombs to themselves and blow up wedding parties. Speaking at ….. air force base in Alaska this week, Mr Bush reiterated his view that America has no choice but to confront them. Islamic terrorists, he warned, seek "to break our will and blackmail our government into isolation". "That's not going to happen so long as I'm ….. President of ….. United States," he promised. But …..dwindling number of Americans are behind him.

The Economist (Nov 17th 2005 | WASHINGTON, DC)