Seven Examples Where Partisan Divisions on Foreign Policy Widened in 2018

2. Support for NAFTA

Republicans and Democrats now equally agree that free trade is good for the US economy, consumers, and job creation, though during President Obama’s tenure Republicans were much less positive than Democrats. While they agree on the potential that trade can bring, in recent years Democrats are more positive than Republicans about existing trade agreements, including NAFTA.

While differences between Democrats and Republicans on NAFTA were in the single digits until 2008, views on the agreement at this point are at their widest ever with a 36-37 percentage point difference in views in the last two years. Eight in ten Democrats (79%) now say NAFTA is good for the US economy, while only 43 percent of Republicans agree. Importantly, support for NAFTA is now at its highest level ever recorded in Chicago Council Surveys, increasing 10 percentage points over the past year (from 53% to 63%).

3. Commitment to NATO

In Chicago Council Surveys conducted during the Cold War, Republicans were more likely to favor increasing or maintaining US commitment to NATO, reflecting hawkish views towards the Soviet Union. However, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Democrats have been more likely to favor increasing or maintaining commitments to the Alliance, surpassing the highest level of support among Republicans (in 1986). Democrats seem to have solidified their support for NATO—and Republicans have become softer on the alliance – even more in the aftermath of President Trump’s criticisms of the alliance and leaders of allied countries. The 2018 Chicago Council Survey revealed the largest percentage point difference between Republicans and Democrats on this question, a& 22 percentage point difference.

4. Opinion of Russia 

An interesting finding from the 2018 survey: as Democrats have firmed up their support for NATO in the past year, Republican views of Russia—though still largely unfavorable—grew more positive. In the past, regardless of political affiliation, Americans generally felt similarly about Russia within a few percentage points. But Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election had a significant and differential impact on Republicans and Democrats’ views toward Moscow. Out of a possible highest positive feeling of 100 degrees, Republicans gave Russia a 39-degree rating, an increase of five percentage points over the previous year, while Democrats average rating was 25 degrees. This is the widest gap between the two partisan groupings since the first time the Chicago Council asked this question during the Cold War. 

5. Emphasis on Maintaining US Military Superiority

In 1998, six in ten Republicans and Democrats expressed the view that maintaining US military superiority is a very important goal. Then the September 11 attacks happened, and Republicans and Democrats grew further apart on how much emphasis to place on military superiority, mainly because Democrats began placing lesser priority on military might. In fact, the 2018 survey revealed the largest ever gap between Democrats and Republicans who think maintaining military superiority is a very important goal, a 29 percentage point difference.

6. Emphasis on Strengthening the United Nations

While Democrats have become likely than Republicans to focus on projecting US power through military superiority, Republicans have become less likely to focus on projecting US influence through strengthening the United Nations. From 1974 until 1998, the American public was fairly united in their views about the United Nations. But since then, the public has steadily grown apart about the importance of strengthening the United Nations. Today, while six in ten Democrats (61%) think strengthening the UN is a very important foreign policy goal, less than a third of Republicans (29%) and about a third of Independents (34%) feel the same way. For Democrats, the importance of strengthening the UN reached a high in 2018 not seen since 2002.

7. Protecting Weaker Nations 

In the last decade, the importance of protecting weaker nations against foreign aggression as a foreign policy goal of the United States has been growing apart for Democrats and Republicans. When the question was first asked in 1974 both Republicans and Democrats had similar views on this topic; however, today, 42 percent of Democrats agree that it is a very important goal compared to 24 percent of Republicans. Since this question was first asked, this is the biggest gap between Republicans and Democrats yet recorded (18 percentage points).