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2015 Center Research Project: US Public Opinion of the UN

NOTE: This post was written by Malissa Eaddy and Gahoussou Toure.

Malissa Eaddy is a Dual Degree MA student in the School of Diplomacy and International Relations and Asian Studies Programs. Her research interests include Japanese and Chinese language and cultural studies, Southeast Asian Cultural Studies and Post-Conflict Negotiations.

Gahoussou Toure is a joint MA/MBA student with the School of Diplomacy and International Relations and the Stillman School of Business. He holds Master’s and Bachelor’s Degrees from the University of Cocody in Cote d’Ivoire.

 

Graduate students from Seton Hall’s School of Diplomacy & International Relations are creating a landmark study based on a recent survey of registered voters released by the Better World Campaign. Building on a survey conducted in October 2014, the students hope to better understand the determinants of US public attitudes toward the United Nations.

One student team will use a series of demographic variables such as age, gender, income, partisanship, and education to determine the factors that shape how favorable the respondent is toward the UN. In addition, students will evaluate the impact of these demographic factors on a number of other questions from the survey, such as whether the respondent feels US interests are best secured working unilaterally or with others, the importance of maintaining an active US role within the UN, and whether the UN has been supportive of US foreign policy objectives around the world.

A second student team will look at the verbatim answers to a survey question on UN favorability, with the goal of trying to understand why respondents hold the opinions on the UN that they do.  By analyzing UN favorability both quantitatively and qualitatively, this project aims to better assess the relationship between the UN and its largest donor and help identify possible avenues to strengthen this relationship.

The findings and recommendations from this study will be released on this blog later this semester.

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