| Description |
1 online resource (16 pages) : color illustrations, color maps |
| Contents |
Introduction -- What does the American public know about manned and unmanned aircraft? -- Perceptions of risk and preference for air strikes -- Impact of legal issues on preferences for unmanned aircraft -- Impact of current policy issues on preferences for unmanned aircraft -- Demographic variations -- Conclusion |
| Summary |
"Over the past fifteen years, the United States has increasingly used drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as tools of foreign policy. Since the Bureau of Investigative Journalism began tracking U.S. drone activity in 2002, the U.S. government has authorized approximately 574 drone strikes in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan, and since January 2015, at least 404 additional drone strikes in Afghanistan. This increased use of drones has received support from senior decision makers, and has also been met with high approval ratings from the U.S. public. A February 2013 Gallup poll, for example, reported that 65 percent of Americans agreed with the U.S. government's decision to launch drone strikes against terrorists overseas. In the same month, 75 percent of respondents to a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll approved of the U.S. military's use of drones to carry out attacks overseas on targets deemed a 'threat to the United States.' And in May 2015, a Pew public opinion poll reported that 58 percent of U.S. adults approved of the use of drones to carry out missile strikes against extremists in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia: a 2 percent increase from the same Pew poll of February 2013. What is driving U.S. public support for drones? Despite the large number of opinion polls available, there is very little known about the reasoning behind U.S. public preferences for unmanned air strikes, how strong these preferences are, and in what situations the American public would prefer unmanned over manned air strikes ... We designed a survey with seven experimental scenarios and a series of survey questions in order to understand the circumstances under which the American public favored unmanned air strikes, manned air strikes, either platform, or no strikes. This experimental design allowed respondents to make choices among different platforms, and also provided individuals with the option to explain their reasoning. Our results revealed a much more nuanced set of opinions on the use of force than is generally conveyed in existing surveys. Our findings also shed light on political and demographic divides that characterize this debate. These divides have significant implications for domestic support for the future use of U.S. military force overseas"--Publisher's web site |
| Notes |
"September 2016." |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (page 16) |
| Notes |
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (CNAS, viewed September 30, 2016) |
| Subject |
Drone aircraft -- United States -- Public opinion
|
|
Military policy -- Public opinion.
|
| SUBJECT |
United States -- Military policy -- 21st century -- Public opinion
|
| Subject |
United States.
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| Author |
Macdonald, Julia, author
|
|
Center for a New American Security, publisher.
|
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