Amerca Less Anxious About Foreign Affairs

American citizens are less worried about foreign policy than they have been in four years, according to Public Agenda's Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index. As Elizabeth Woolen's blog notes, the elites and leaders surveyed thought that jobs and the economy were more pressing issues. This is an example of what we learned about the conditions of a public issue that get that issue onto the public agenda. One of those conditions was the scope of the problem. Job-loss and poor economy affects most Americans directly, while foreign policy does not. Jobs also affect those Americans with higher intensity and higher cost than foreign policy does. That is why even though foreign policy may need to be higher on the agenda, it will not be until the economic problems are solved.