CHICAGO, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A poll of foreign relations attitudes shows most U.S. citizens don't favor an expensive reconstruction of the Middle East, while most U.S. politicians do.
The poll by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations found two-thirds of citizens oppose multibillion-dollar spending on bringing democracy and stability. However, almost the same percentage of leaders favored such a plan.
Perhaps as a consequence of the war in Iraq, public support for U.S. efforts to bring democracy to other countries has fallen to 14 percent -- its lowest level since the survey began in 1974.
More than three-quarters oppose the United States playing the role of "global policeman," and more than two-thirds believe it should be more willing to make decisions through the United Nations, even if it means the United States going along with a policy that is not its first choice.
"All of these findings point again to the idea that Americans feel that the responsibilities and costs of many international actions are too great for it to shoulder alone and are looking for ways to share these burdens," the council said in its summary.
The poll was conducted by Knowledge Networks Inc. July 6-12 and has a 3 point error margin. Some 1,195 randomly selected adults across the United States answered questions over the Internet.
