Outlooks and affinities: what motivates American public support for defending Taiwan?

ABSTRACTSurveys increasingly show Americans support efforts to Taiwan from Chinese aggression. Yet few studies unpack how overall views of international commitments as well as specific views of Taiwan and China influence this support, focusing more partisan identification. Through original survey data, I find evaluations of Taiwan playing a larger role than anti-China sentiment in driving support for Taiwan’s defense. In addition, those desiring American engagement in world affairs were also more supportive. The results suggest the scope and limitations of public support for Taiwan’s defense.KEYWORDS: TaiwanChinaForeign PolicyPartisanshipPublic OpinionSurvey Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 In the 117th Congress (2021–2022), the House Taiwan Caucus included 89 Republicans and 79 Democrats, while the Senate Taiwan Caucus included 17 Republicans and 14 Democrats.2 Copper (Citation2017) argues that initial beliefs of a dramatic shift away from Taiwan may be exaggerated.3 Although no attention checks were included within the survey, the analysis did flag responses that finished two standard deviations faster than the average, with the assumption such respondents were not paying due attention to the questions. However, excluding such respondents did not alter the findings shown here.4 While acknowledging the limitations of quota sampling, this approach improves upon traditional convenience-based sampling for web survey.5 18–24: 14.18%; 24–34: 18.92%; 35–44: 19.44%; 45–54: 14.29%; 55–64: 12.62%; 65–74: 14.18%;, 75–84: 5.61%; 85+: 0.75%.6 Female: 49.91%.7 Midwest: 20.20%; Northeast: 19.97%; South: 39.81%; West: 20.02%.8 Respondents were asked ‘On a 1–10 scale, with 1 being very negative and 10 very positive, how do you feel about the following countries?’9 Of those not supportive of one of the two largest parties, 81.84% identified as having no party identification, with most of the remaining writing in independent. As such, and with only nine respondents identifying other parties my name, the baseline is treated as just independent. Removing supporters of third parties did not produce substantively different results.10 Less than high school, high school graduate, some college, two-year degree, four-year degree, professional degree, doctorate. Collapsing the last two into a graduate degree did not fundamentally alter the later results.Additional informationNotes on contributorsTimothy S. RichTimothy S. Rich, Professor of Political Science at Western Kentucky University. His research focuses on public opinion and East Asian politics.