Destiny, Fate, & Consciousness: Anglo American Support for Militarism, 1948-2020

• In Event: New Research on Military Intervention

Abstract

This paper sets out to contribute to two central debates in American politics: 1) how do Americans form opinions about foreign policy and 2) do those opinions "matter" when it comes to elections? Leveraging public opinion data from 1948-2020, this paper tests the hypothesis that race and racism play a major role in public opinion regarding foreign policy opinion across three main policy areas: a) support for military interventions, b) perception of foreign nations as threats, and c) defense spending and other investments in the military. Furthermore, the results of two-stage regression analysis strongly suggests that foreign policy played a significant role in voting for U.S. president in the 2020 Presidential election. Previous research in American politics has shown the important role that linked fate, group consciousness, racial identity, and out-group attitudes play in domestic politics. This paper argues that these concepts are also key to their ideas about foreign policy - including support for military intervention - and that these attitudes play an important but undervalued role in U.S. Presidential elections.

Author

• David Brooks Ebner, Sweet Briar College