Public Opinion and U.S. Foreign Policy

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel examines how public opinion shapes democracies’ foreign policy choices, and the conditions under which that influence improves or impedes high-stakes decision making. The panel focuses on identifying the mechanisms that link voter attitudes with U.S. foreign policy, in particular, and on explaining why those mechanisms affect some kinds of foreign policy behavior more than others. Through a combination of observational, experimental, and archival data, the panel’s four papers show how presidential candidates use unpopular policies to craft appealing personal images, how leaders deploy different metrics in order to cultivate expectations for success in armed conflict, how the electoral cycle leads weak presidents to place special emphasis on foreign policy agendas, and how the circumstances and audience of false statements influence the way that lying affects a president’s credibility. These findings help to advance scholars’ understanding of the relationship between domestic politics and international affairs, while engaging broader questions about the nature and limits of democratic responsiveness.

Sub Unit

• Division 19: International Security

Individual Presentations

• Foreign Policy and Presidential Voting - Jeffrey A. Friedman, Dartmouth College

• The Politics of Progress: Metrics, Public Opinion, and Strategy in War - Carrie A Lee, U.S. Army War College

• Electoral Cycles and U.S. Foreign Policy - Philip B. K. Potter, University of Virginia

• The Development and Impacts of Presidential Reputations for Lying - Keren Yarhi-Milo, Princeton University; David Ribar, Princeton University

Chair

• Alexandra Guisinger Temple University

Discussant

• Rachel Maureen Myrick Duke University