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International Affairs

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Foreign Aid Support: About eight-in-ten Americans say the U.S. should provide humanitarian aid like medicine, food and clothing to developing nations. (Read the report)
International Engagement: Roughly half of Americans think it is best for the future of the country for the U.S. to be active in world affairs. (Read the report)
China Views: Negative views of China have softened slightly among Americans, the first such shift in five years. (Read the report)

reportApr 8, 2025

More disapprove than approve of leaving the WHO and ending USAID. About half see tariffs on China as bad for the U.S. and them personally, but views differ by party.

reportApr 17, 2025

A shipping crate from China awaits inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at a Los Angeles freight facility in 2022.

reportApr 17, 2025

short readApr 8, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he welcomes him to the White House on April 7, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

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reportJan 16, 2003

Public Wants Proof of Iraqi Weapons Programs

Summary of Findings A two-thirds majority of the public continues to express qualified support for the idea of using military force to end the rule of Saddam Hussein. But the Bush administration may face a major challenge in winning public support for the use of force if U.N. weapons inspections yield anything less than evidence […]
reportDec 12, 2002

Public More Internationalist than in 1990s

Summary of Findings Americans continue to hold more internationalist views than they did prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The public favors cooperation with the United Nations and taking into account the views of U.S. allies to a greater extent than in the 1990s. Most notably, there has been a decline in the percentage […]
reportDec 4, 2002

What the World Thinks in 2002

Overview Global Gloom and Growing Anti-Americanism Despite an initial outpouring of public sympathy for America following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, discontent with the United States has grown around the world over the past two years. Images of the U.S. have been tarnished in all types of nations: among longtime NATO allies, in developing […]
reportDec 4, 2002

What the World Thinks in 2002

Introduction and Summary Global Gloom and Growing Anti-Americanism Despite an initial outpouring of public sympathy for America following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, discontent with the United States has grown around the world over the past two years. Images of the U.S. have been tarnished in all types of nations: among longtime NATO allies, […]
reportOct 17, 2002

Generations Divide Over Military Action in Iraq

A Pew Research Center Note
transcriptSep 30, 2002

Iraq and Just War: A Symposium

10 a.m. – Noon Washington, D.C. Panelist include: Gerard Bradley is Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School. A noted scholar in the fields of constitutional law and law and religion, his books include Catholicism, Liberalism, and Communitarianism. He is the director of Notre Dame’s Natural Law Institute and is a former president of […]
transcriptSep 10, 2002

Remembering September 11th: What is the Truth that has been Revealed to Us?

7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. New York, New York Featuring: Jean Bethke Elshtain, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the University of Chicago Fred Dings, the University of South Carolina E.J. Dionne, Jr., Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the Brookings Institution, Washington Post James Forbes, Riverside Church Aasma Khan, Muslims Against Terrorism […]
presentationSep 10, 2002

The Internet and Collecting the History of the Present

This speech covers our findings related to how people used the Internet just after the 9/11 terror attacks and our follow-up survey.
reportSep 5, 2002

One Year Later: New Yorkers More Troubled, Washingtonians More On Edge

Introduction Over the past year, many of the dramatic reactions of the public to the events of Sept. 11 have slowly faded. The spike in trust in government is mostly gone, the public once again is highly critical the of the news media, and even President Bush’s approval ratings have come down from the stratosphere.(1) […]
reportSep 5, 2002

Temporary Turnabout: Religion and the Crisis

In March, 2001, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life began a partnership to conduct a series of national public opinion surveys on religious attitudes. With the events of September 11, we accelerated our agenda to investigate how religious beliefs shaped public reactions […]

Signature Reports

reportDec 6, 2023

How close do people feel to others around the world? How much do they want their countries involved in international affairs? How do people’s experiences with travel and feelings of international connectedness relate to their views about the world? A recent 24-nation survey explores these questions.

reportFeb 28, 2024

A 24-country survey finds a median of 59% are dissatisfied with how their democracy is functioning, and 74% think elected officials don’t care what people like them think.

reportMar 13, 2024