The public remains conflicted over just how much the United States can and should do to address global challenges. But the initial shifts in public opinion could make it easier for President Obama to order more muscular options in striking Islamic State terrorists in Syria and Iraq. If the trend continues, it could help shape the 2016 campaign to succeed him.
Comment: The latest poll from YouGov shows the change in public opinion over the past year. Mainly due to ISIS propaganda. Now 63% of Americans support the use of military force in Syria and 16% oppose it, last year it was the reverse.
"This runs counter to this conventional wisdom that the public is isolationist," says Bruce Jentleson, a former State Department adviser in the Obama administration who is now a professor at Duke and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "It's not trigger-happy, but it's also not totally gun-shy."
Comment: For a broad overview of what this implies see: Global Pathocracy, Authoritarian Followers and the Hope of the World