Washington: While growing numbers of Americans believe that U.S. global power and prestige are in decline, top foreign policy experts think China and India will be more important U.S. allies in the future.
Even as support for U.S. global engagement, already near a historic low, has fallen further, this reticence is not an expression of across-the-board isolationism, according to a new poll by Pew Research centre in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a U.S. think tank specializing in foreign policy.
"The public thinks that the nation does too much to solve world problems, and increasing percentages want the U.S. to 'mind its own business internationally' and pay more attention to problems here at home," the poll found.
Even as doubts grow about the United States' geopolitical role, most Americans say the benefits from U.S. participation in the global economy outweigh the risks. And support for closer trade and business ties with other nations stands at its highest point in more than a decade, the poll found.
The survey on "America's Place in the World", a quadrennial survey of foreign policy attitudes found that the public continues to express favorable opinions of a number of long-standing U.S. allies.
While opinions about most of the 12 countries included in the survey have not changed a great deal in recent years, the balance of opinion toward India, Russia and Mexico has turned more negative.
Fewer than half (46 percent) have a favorable impression of India while 33 percent have an unfavorable opinion. Four years ago, 56 percent had a favorable opinion of India and 24 percent had an unfavorable view.
