Should the US Focus on Domestic Issues or Foreign Affairs? NewsWire

NewsWire: 6/24/22

• Americans are closely divided on whether international engagement can solve problems. Majorities under age 50 think the U.S. should concentrate on domestic affairs, but the share declines among older age groups. (Pew Research Center)
• NH: According to a new Pew poll, 51% of U.S. adults believe the U.S. “should pay less attention to problems overseas and concentrate on problems here at home.” Conversely, 48% think “it’s best for the future of our country to be active in world affairs.” 
• Since 2019 when Pew asked the same question, support for focusing on domestic issues has increased by +5 percentage points. And support for international engagement has decreased by -5 percentage points.
• This may seem surprising given the emergence of several high-profile global problems: the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and rising tensions with China. But it jibes with Gallup’s monthly poll that asks Americans to identify the biggest issue facing the U.S. today. Of the top ten responses, only two are foreign policy issues: immigration (4th place) and the situation in Russia (9th place). Americans have recently grown more concerned with homegrown issues like high inflation, a declining stock market, and the prospect of another recession.
• Now let’s look at responses by demographic category. 

• By political party, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the U.S. should focus on foreign affairs (60% vs. 34%). And Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say the U.S. should focus on domestic issues (65% vs. 39%). Since 2019, Democratic responses have barely changed. But the Republican focus has significantly shifted to domestic issues (+11 pp) rather than foreign policy (-11pp). This may reflect their deep distrust of Biden's global goals. (See “The GOP’s Advantage on Inflation.”)  
• By age, majorities of both 18- to 29-year-olds (56%) and 30- to 49-year-olds (56%) think the U.S. should focus on domestic affairs. But this belief declines moving up the age ladder. 50% of those aged 50-64 and 40% of those aged 65+ say the same thing. 
• Last month, we wrote a NewsWire on an Economist poll which found that young Americans along with Western Europeans are less sympathetic towards Ukraine than their elders. (See “The Generational Divide on Ukraine.”) Why? I suspected it had to do with generational memory. Young people have grown up in an era of relatively low international conflict. Those 60+ lived through the Cold War. Older generations consequently pay more attention to geopolitics. And I suspect we are seeing the same difference in perspective play out in this Pew poll.
• Unfortunately, Pew doesn't provide double crosstabs. But given that young people tend to be Democrats and Democrats are more likely to support international engagement, we can infer that there is an extreme age gradient within each party. In other words, older Democrats must be much more likely than their younger counterparts to focus on foreign affairs. And the opposite is likely true of Republicans. Conservatives under 50 must be much more likely than their older counterparts to focus on domestic issues.