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Dear colleagues and friends,
As we near the midterm elections, I am pleased to share with you three timely items, two of which address the role of foreign policy issues in the elections.
The first is an episode of the None of the Above Podcast that addresses what the polls tell us about the role that the Iran war and Israel/Palestine may play in the elections, even as the impact could be indirect. The conversation with me is led by the Institute for Global Affairs’ Jonathan Guyer and includes the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Dina Smeltz. Click here to listen to the podcast on your preferred platform.
The second item is based on my recent presentation at the University of Michigan’s Center for Political Studies. It provides a context for what I see as a lasting paradigmatic shift in American public opinion on Israel and hypothesizes about the growing shift across different segments of American society, and also about the rising relevance of the issue electorally. Here is a link to the analysis.
The third item draws your attention to the recent 40-page report of our University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll. While the report focuses heavily on the shifts in American public attitudes toward Muslims and Jews compared to others, the report also suggests that Americans are paying more attention to the discourse on Israel/Palestine and are being increasingly impacted by it. One such element is the public’s high level of self-censorship on Israel/Palestine, especially compared to Russia/Ukraine. Americans are more than twice as likely to self-censor when Israel/Palestine comes up in conversations publicly, compared to Russia/Ukraine. Those who self-censor on Russia/Ukraine worry most about criticizing US policy, while those who self-censor on Israel/Palestine worry most about criticizing Israel.
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