61 Percent of Americans Believe the U.S. "Too Often" Uses Its Military Forces in Foreign Conflicts

Americans are skeptical about the efficacy of the United States' presence overseas. According to the latest Reason-Rupe poll 61 percent of Americans believe the U.S. uses its military force in foreign conflicts too often, while only 9 percent believe the U.S uses it not often enough. A quarter believes the U.S. uses its military force in foreign conflicts the right amount.

Americans are also unconvinced that keeping troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2014 will be particularly advantageous to the U.S. Instead 65 percent believe keeping troops in Afghanistan through 2014 will make "no difference." Only 19 percent believe it will make the US safer and 12 percent believe it will make the U.S. less safe. Americans also do not believe that the war in Iraq has been worth it, with 62 percent saying it has not been worth it, compared to 32 percent who say it has.

Click here for full survey results.

Survey Methods

The Reason-Rupe Q3 2011 poll collected a nationally representative sample of 1200 respondents, aged 18 and older from all 50 states and the District of Columbia using live telephone interviews from August 9th-18th 2011. The margin of sampling error for this poll is ± 3 percent. The margin of error for the GOP presidential race numbers is ± 4.79%. Interviews were conducted with respondents using both landline (790) and mobile phones (410). Landline respondents were randomly selected within households based on the adult who had the most recent birthday. Sample was weighted by gender, age, ethnicity, and Census region, based on the most recent US Census data. The sampling frame included landline and mobile phone numbers generated using Random Digit Dialing (RDD) methods and randomly selected numbers from a directory-listed sample. Clickhere for full methodological details. NSON Opinion Strategy conducted the poll's fieldwork. View full methodology.