Five Interesting Things: Today’s Scan Hits
Earlier this year the polling firm YouGov undertook a survey for Professor Benjamin Valentina at Dartmouth. The results offer some interesting insights into how Americans view our country’s future interactions with China and broader role in the world.
- Staying on top — Fifty-three percent of Americans say that is is “very important” for the United States to remain the world’s most influential country, and an additional 23% say “somewhat important.” Fifty-five percent say it is “very important” for the United States to remain the world’s leading military power, with 19% more saying “somewhat important.” (Republicans are even more adamant on this question, with 79.5% saying “very important.”
- But doing so on the cheap — How Americans plan to pay to maintain primacy is unclear: 49.9% would not have their taxes increased at all to keep the US military the strongest in the world, and 17.8% would pay 5% more, with much smaller increments willing to go higher than that.
- Worried by China — While 26% of those polled think relations with China will be about the same 20 years from now, 30% think they will be somewhat or much worse, and 21% think they will be better.
- Preventing China’s rise — Americans are sufficiently worried by China that they would have rather have slow growth that added only 10% to the average American income than fast growth that doubled US incomes but left China with the largest economy. (Gains like this are probably much easier to forgo in theory than in reality.)
- Human rights have priority — Americans are somewhat idealistic when it comes to human rights, with 48% saying the US should seek universal adherence even if it damages relations with strategically and economically important countries, while 29% would give priority to maintaining good relations with such countries. (This is a question in which Democrats and Republicans are essentially in agreement.)
Image: Josh Calder
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