Search The Council

It's been a busy 2021. Recap the year with the survey team's analyses of public opinion on the most critical issues at home and around the world.

Reflect on the year with highlights from the Council's public opinion research and analysis.

With the holiday celebrations behind us, here is a quick recap of some of the stats that defined the past twelve months of programming at the Council.

America’s unconditional security sector assistance has helped facilitate Ethiopia’s violent responses to opposition.

The 1982 Chicago Council Survey shows important disparities between public opinion and Reagan administration policies in defense spending, arms control, foreign aid, détente, and trade policy.

The 2002 Chicago Council survey made it clear that 9/11 had a profound impact on the American mood and U.S. relationships with foreign countries.

The 2010 Chicago Council Survey shows that Americans remain committed to an active part in world affairs—its problems, opportunities, and key actors.

The 2012 Chicago Council Survey tracks public opinion on US foreign policy since the September 11 attacks, and includes an assessment of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The 2014 Chicago Council Survey of American public opinion and US foreign policy shows public support for an “Active” Role in world affairs.

2015 Chicago Council Survey results demonstrate the American public remains committed to engagement in the world.

While the Biden administration seems to understand where Americans stand on China and domestic renewal to support global competitiveness, the data disproves their assumptions that Americans are skeptical about trade and weary of US global engagement

A Chicago Council survey shows that Americans see an increased need to keep watch over the Middle East by maintaining a troop presence there.

Great power competition is the organizing principle of President Biden’s new National Security Strategy. Is the American public on board?

Results from the 2012 Council Survey find that nearly seven in 10 Americans think the war in Afghanistan has not been worth the cost.

For the first time since the question was first asked in the 1994 Chicago Council Survey, more Americans say that Asia is more important to the US than Europe.

The 2022 Chicago Council Survey finds broad support for taking in Afghan refugees but not for releasing frozen funds to the Taliban.

A joint Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Levada Analytical Center survey shows few Russians or Americans expect great changes to US-Russia ties now or in the next 10 years, although both publics see the merits of collaboration.

Americans want to play an active part in world affairs but are reassessing their foreign policy priorities and how they want to engage with the world.

Unlike their elders, young Americans don’t buy into US exceptionalism and are divided on whether the United States should play an active role or stay out of world affairs.

But Republicans and Democrats are sharply divided when it comes to immigration levels.

The Council's polling experts examine how American foreign policy experts think of the term "allies," and whether variations in thinking matter for US foreign policy decisions.

A survey from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs highlighting key foreign policy topics that will be covered in the final 2012 Presidential debate.

The Council's Cécile Shea joins WTTW's "Chicago Tonight" to explain why she believes Afghanistan's collapse was inevitable—and what could happen next.

Catch Council President Ivo Daalder on WTTW's Chicago Tonight discussing what the evacuation from Afghanistan means for US and NATO allies.

Council President Ivo Daalder discusses the end of the war in Afghanistan with WGN's Paul Lisnek.

Ahead of President Biden's address on August 31, Elizabeth Shackelford joins Ben Roswell on CBC News to discuss the US’s completed withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"You cannot build good foreign policy on dishonesty. But we keep trying to because no one pays for it," writes Elizabeth Shackelford.

"The inevitability of the outcome does not make it any less tragic, but the tragedy does not make the decision to withdraw wrong," Senior Fellow Elizabeth Shackelford explains.

Elizabeth Shackelford explains why it's time for Congress to reassert limitations on our use of war.

The Council's Elizabeth Shackelford explains how a new bipartisan bill could renew Congressional war powers and reign in presidential power to engage the United States in conflict.

The war in Afghanistan has lasted more than 17 years, and the overall situation has improved little over those years.

The Council's Lizzy Shackelford joins Fox 32 Chicago to analyze the Taliban's Afghanistan takeover and US foreign policy lessons from America's longest war.

"This isn't Afghanistan, and this isn't Syria. This is a country that's being attacked," says Ivo Daalder on MSNBC. "This is not a proxy war."

"The US military footprint in the Greater Middle East is undermining US strategic priorities elsewhere in the world," Paul Poast argues.

"Afghanistan was indeed a failure of US foreign policy," Paul Poast writes. "But it wasn't a failure of the Biden administration."