Americans trust the federal government to handle international affairs more than at almost any point in nearly a decade, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday. The poll, conducted from Sept. 6-9 as part of Gallup’s annual Governance survey, showed that 66 percent of the 1,017 polled have a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of trust in the federal government’s ability to handle international problems, higher than at any point since mid-2003. Only 33 percent claimed that their faith in Washington’s ability to handle foreign affairs was “not very much” or “none.”
Views on the US’s ability to handle international affairs featured a starkly partisan divide — 80 percent of Democrats supported the US’s foreign policy chops, while only 52 percent of Republicans felt the same way.
The PollTracker Average of President Obama’s job approval on foreign policy shows 50.8 percent of Americans approve, while 41.3 percent disapprove.
