Promoting Democracy Abroad

Americans share President George W. Bush’s view that America would be safer if there were more democracies, but they have always balked at the idea of actively promoting democracy abroad. A July CBS News poll that asks respondents whether the United States has a responsibility “to actively promote democracy around the world” confirms the pattern. Thirty-one percent of respondents think that the United States is responsible for the promoting democracy abroad, but 60 percent of those polled do not think the United States has this responsibility.

A bare majority of Republicans (51 percent) and strong majorities of Democrats (63 percent) and independents (62 percent) agree that democracy promotion is not America’s responsibility. Americans have always been reluctant internationalists, aware of the global role that the United States must play, but at the same time, concerned about the costs that come with such responsibility.

Source: CBS News, July 2009.