| This project addresses two questions: what are the underlying conditions that lead an American president to select particular foreign policy actions and how is public opinion integrated into the foreign policy process. In exploring the first question, I focus on public opinion-related conditions, such as aggregate approval, support among members of the president's party, and public attentiveness to the international realm and use statistical analysis to determine the influence each has on actions such as uses of force and presidential broadcast addresses.;Using archival research at the Carter and Reagan Presidential Libraries, I concluded that many actors who care about public opinion are involved in the foreign policy process. While these actors will always seek to influence public opinion when implementing a foreign policy decision, the importance they place on public opinion when deciding which policy option to select varies based on the president's approval among members of his own party in the preceding months and the amount of attention paid to the international realm by the American people. Presidents with lower levels of prior partisan support will feel more constrained by public opinion, while presidents enjoying higher levels of approval from their partisans will feel they have a popularity buffer and can afford a potentially risky action. |
