Public Opinion and the Syrian Crisis in Three Democracies: Surveys of French, British, and American Samples, 2014

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The research projected was a series of two surveys in the US, UK, and France (an extra post 2014 European election wave was added in the UK) investigating factors affecting public opinion about foreign policy by studying the dynamics of opinion about possible military and humanitarian aid interventions in Syria in three major democracies - the United Kingdom, the United States and France. The Syrian situation has great real-world urgency while presenting a significant opportunity to bolster understanding of how public opinion shapes and constrains the policies that elites can choose. The first surveys have a great focus on the Syrian crisis as well as included additional questions tapping the public's attitudes towards foreign policy more generally. The follow-up surveys focused on foreign policy attitudes and how they related to domestic opinion in the three nations. The French and British waves are panelled and were fielded shortly before and after the 2014 European elections, and there is a total of three, not two British waves. This collection contains a two wave survey of representative samples of the British, French, and American populations. Survey work was conducted by YouGov. The French surveys were fielded shortly before and after the 2014 European Elections. A cross sectional British survey was fielded in March 2014 and then a short panel survey was conducted before and after the spring 2014 European elections. The American cross-sections were fielded in March 2014 and September 2014.