International Issues

When debate moderator Tim Russert asked the Democratic presidential candidates if they would pledge to have all U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of their first term, the leading candidates all declined to make a firm pledge. Are they in sync -- or out of sync -- with the views of Democratic voters on the question of an Iraq war withdrawal timetable?

Summary of Findings Last week’s congressional testimony by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, followed by President Bush’s address to the nation, has not changed bottom-line public attitudes toward the war in Iraq. However, there has been a modest increase in positive views about the U.S. military effort, accompanied by largely positive public reactions […]

In my ongoing quest to visit as many internet cafes in China as possible, I was on the lookout last week during our visit to Urumqi (aka: Wulumuqi), a city of about 3 million along the Silk Road in the northwest corner of China.

Internet addiction in China has been described as a "severe social problem that could threaten the nation's future."

A look at the course of opinions about the Iraq war over the past few years suggests that two crucial but opposing factors in U.S. thinking will likely shape the public's response to the Petraeus report.

In China, the internet cafe has overtaken the workplace as the second most popular place after their own homes for internet users to go online. Most of the increase in internet café use is in rural areas.

To many observers the most obvious parallel between the two conflicts is that, after early public support, disillusionment mounted as hostilities dragged on. But while the overall trajectory is similar, an important political difference distinguishes public attitudes toward the two wars.

In the second quarter of 2007, the presidential campaign supplanted the debate over Iraq as the No. 1 story in the media. Barack Obama overtook Hillary Clinton as the candidate getting the most attention. And Republicans began to catch up with Democrats in exposure. PEJ offers a 2nd quarter report on the media.

Reports on monitoring and censorship of Chinese internet content, particularly news and blogs, are familiar to westerners. We are less familiar with editorials praising a Party official's meeting with a "netizen," wishing for a day when it was les...

And Negative Views of Musharraf Are on the Rise