US voters face a stark choice on foreign policy – and they might prefer Trump’s offer | Emma Ashford

As president, Trump's approach was chaotic - but after four years of international upheaval, his views may resonate with the American people

Donald Trump has all but clinched the Republican presidential nomination, kicking off a US general election campaign between two elderly one-term presidents, each of whom is profoundly unpopular in their own way. Perhaps more unusually for the US, however, it also kicks off an election in which the foreign policy stakes are far higher than usual, and one in which the two presidential rivals offer radically different visions of the US's role in the world.

Political scientists have long known that American voters do not typically vote on foreign policy issues, which pale in comparison with economic or social issues. In 2024, however, that rule is not likely to hold. A plethora of recent polls suggest that Americans are increasingly concerned about foreign policy; one survey found that four in 10 voters rank the issue among their top concerns.

Emma Ashford is a senior fellow with the Reimagining US Grand Strategy programme at the Stimson Center, Washington DC, and the author of Oil, the State and War