Just how Wilsonian are Americans?

Patrick Belton links to the joint Pew/Council on Foreign Relations public opinion survey and comments as follows:

[C]oming into the elections, a rather strong plurality of respondents (41 percent) believe foreign policy issues are the most important facing the nation, compared with economic issues (26 percent) and other domestic issues (also 26 percent). Interestingly, it also shows the American public is solidly Wilsonian, with 72 percent believing the top priority for American foreign policy is to follow moral principles. Roughly two-thirds then say the top priority should be ‘cautious’ (66) or ‘decisive’ (62), with Republicans tending to say ‘decisive’ and Democrats ‘cautious’. (emphasis added)

The Council on Foreign Relations seems to agree with Belton’s interpretation, asserting, “Realpolitik does not play well with the American public.” The data that Patrick reports is correct but incomplete. Belton’s numbers come from the “Beliefs” section. However, when you look at the “Foreign Policy Priorities” section, you get some different looking results. Here’s the numbers on what should be a “top priority” of foreign policy (this is from p. 18 of the report). I’ve bolded the causes that could be clearly labeled as Wilsonian and italicized those that smack of a realist outlook on world affairs:

Percent considering each a “top priority” (July 2004) Protect against terrorist attacks — 88 Protect jobs of American workers — 84 Reduce spread of AIDS & other diseases — 72 Stop spread of weapons of mass destruction — 71 Insure adequate energy supplies — 70 Reduce dependence on foreign oil — 63 Combat international drug trafficking — 63 Distribute costs of maintaining world order — 58 Improve relationships with allies — 54 Deal with problem of world hunger — 50 Strengthen the United Nations — 48 Protect groups threatened with genocide — 47 Deal with global warming — 36 Reduce U.S. military commitments — 35 Promote U.S. business interests abroad — 35 Promote human rights abroad — 33 Solve Israeli/ Palestinian conflict — 28 Promote democracy abroad — 24 Improve living standards in poor nations — 23

That’s not a Wilsonian ordering of priorities. With the exception of the AIDS response, this is quite the realpolitik preference ordering — including the (dispiritingly) robust popularity of protectionism. These results bolster a thesis that I’ve been cogitating on for the past few months: despite claims by international relations theorists — including most realists — that the overwhelming majority of Americans hold liberal policy preferences, it just ain’t so. Even if those beliefs are extolled in the abstract, when asked to prioritize among different foreign policy tasks, the realist position wins. This observation about the shift in attitudes since October 2001 is also interesting (p. 19):

The shift in public priorities since the fall of 2001 is largely a consequence of growing divisions along partisan lines. While Republicans and Democrats had similar lists of foreign policy priorities in October 2001, they are increasingly focused on different issues today. Protecting the U.S. against terrorism is by far the leading priority among Republicans, with more than nine-in-ten (93%) rating that goal a top priority. By comparison, about as many Democrats cite protecting U.S. jobs as a major priority as mention terrorism (89% vs. 86%). And while Republicans are more focused on preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction and reducing America’s dependence on imported oil, Democrats are more concerned about reducing the spread of AIDS and combating international drug trafficking.