Getting tough with the dragon? The comparative correlates of foreign policy attitudes toward China in the United States and UK

This is an open access article.A large body of research suggests mass publics are capable of thinking coherently about\udinternational relations. We extend this body of research to show that domain relevant\udpostures—in our case, more abstract beliefs about foreign policy—are related to how tough of\uda line representative samples of US and UK respondents want their governments to take\udtowards China. More specifically, we utilize a unique comparative survey of American and\udBritish foreign policy attitudes to show broad support for toughness towards China. Beliefs\udabout the use of the military and attitudes regarding globalisation help explain preferences for\udtough economic and military policies towards China. In the two countries, the relationship\udbetween general foreign policy outlooks and the positions citizens take is robust to the\udaddition of a general mediator that controls for the general affect those surveyed have towards\udChina. Finally, the strength of the relationship between these abstract postures and specific\udpreferences for a China policy are different across the countries