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Whether the U.S. should engage with the world or stay out of it, from GSS (active part vs. stay out) and ANES (better off unconcerned with the rest of the world, agree/disagree); wording and answer scales differ, so levels are not directly comparable.
AI-matched An AI model grouped these questions and mapped their answers onto shared categories, and a second AI review checked and corrected the grouping and mapping. No person has checked it: compare the question wordings and the answer mapping below before reading the lines against each other.
Latest: 68% answered “Active role / engage with world” in ANES, 2024.
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2012).
Shares of people whose answer maps onto these categories (non-answers and answers outside the scale are left out), because surveys differ in whether they offer “don’t know.” Each column is one survey wave, evenly spaced rather than to scale in time; hover for exact shares.
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2012).
Shares of people whose answer maps onto these categories (non-answers and answers outside the scale are left out), because surveys differ in whether they offer “don’t know.” Each point is one survey wave at the middle of its field period. Lines from different surveys are never spliced together.
Groups differ from everyone by 9 points on average across all answers, in ANES.
| Line | Question | Match | How answers map |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANES | U.S. better off unconcerned with rest of world 1956-1960: (Same introduction as in VCF0805 [CARD WITH RESPONSES SHOWN]).
1968,1980:
Now I’d like to read some of the things people tell us when we interview them (1968: and ask you; 1980: As I read, please tell me) whether you agree or disagree with them.
1972: I’d like you to tell me whether you agree or disagree with each of these next six statements.
1976: I am going to read you two statements about US foreign policy and I would like you to tell me whether you agree or disagree with each statement
1984-1988,1992: I am going to read a statement about US foreign policy, and I would like you to tell me whether you agree or disagree.
1990,1994-LATER: Do you agree or disagree with this statement.
ALL YEARS:
‘This country would be better off if we just stayed home and did not concern ourselves with problems in other parts of the world.’ Caveat: Agree/disagree with isolationist statement (direction reversed); disagree is not the same as endorsing an active part | similar | Agree (1956-1960: incl. ‘agree strongly’ and ‘agree but not strongly’) → Stay out / unconcerned with world; Disagree (1956-1960: incl. ‘disagree strongly’ and ‘disagree but not strongly’) → Active role / engage with world |
| GSS | Active part or staying out of world affairs Do you think it will be best for the future of this country if we take an active part in world affairs, or if we stay out of world affairs? Caveat: Reference item: forced choice between active part and stay out | identical | Active part → Active role / engage with world; Stay out → Stay out / unconcerned with world |
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2012).
Groups differ from everyone by 7 points on average across all answers, in ANES.
Dashed lines mark changes in how interviews were done, which can shift answers: 1. ANES → mixed mode (2012).
Subgroup charts are picked automatically. Of every breakdown in the data (party, ideology, age, sex, race, education, income, region, religion, and community type), these two put their groups furthest from everyone’s answers: the gap is averaged across all answer categories and waves, with each group weighted by its share of respondents. Party and ideology count as one choice, so the second chart shows a different kind of split. Groups with an effective sample under 50 in a wave are left out of that wave.