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The Commander-in-Chief Test: Public Opinion and the Politics of Image-Making in U.S. Foreign Policy

The Commander-in-Chief Test: Public Opinion and the Politics of Image-Making in U.S. Foreign Policy

By Jeffrey A. Friedman
Cornell University Press, 2023, 234 pp.
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Reviewed by Jessica T. Mathews

March/April 2024Published on
In This Review
The Commander-in-Chief Test: Public Opinion and the Politics of Image-Making in U.S. Foreign Policy

The Commander-in-Chief Test: Public Opinion and the Politics of Image-Making in U.S. Foreign Policy

By Jeffrey A. Friedman

Cornell University Press, 2023, 234 pp.
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Friedman combines quantitative data with archival material on notable foreign policy decisions to examine the connection between public opinion and foreign policy. Spanning 1960 to 2004, the book offers case studies from years in which foreign policy was particularly salient in a national election. He finds that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, voters in those years wanted a candidate who they perceived as a competent commander in chief more than they wanted a candidate whose policy positions they agreed with. Voters assess competence by deciding whether a candidate appears to be a strong, independent leader who will vigorously pursue U.S. interests. This test encourages candidates and sitting presidents to take hawkish positions and abjure any notion of compromise to indicate that they will stand up to foreign adversaries. Ironically, these positions often conflict with voters' preferences in what Friedman terms an "issue-image tradeoff." Conventional polling on where voters stand on issues therefore misses the point. Friedman concludes that, writ large, over many issues and years, issue-image tradeoffs have led the United States to craft policies that are more unilateral, militaristic policies than what voters actually want--with costly consequences.


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