A new article from Helen Webley-Brown and our researcher Lauren Sukin article argues that domestic politics in the US has international consequences. It examines how structural features of US domestic politics shape foreign perceptions of US reliability, including in the nuclear domain. The key finding is that public polarization undermines trust in the United States, whether Republicans or Democrats are in control of the White House or Congress. At a moment when US credibility is under threat, this work bears on questions about how recoverable the US reputation might be moving forward. The authors find that even if party control changes, the persistence of public polarization means concerns about US reliability may remain.
New cross-national survey data: U.S. domestic politics, particularly polarization, shapes foreign nuclear credibility