STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
After the United States seized Venezuela's leader, President Trump sat for a long interview with The New York Times. Asked about what, if anything, restrains him in foreign policy, Trump said only, quote, "my own morality, my own mind." A new NPR/Ipsos poll out today found that Americans across the political spectrum want the U.S. to be the moral leader of the world, but far fewer believe it actually is. NPR's Frank Langfitt has been reading the numbers. Hey, there, Frank.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Hey, Steve.
INSKEEP: What do you see in this survey?
LANGFITT: Well, movement in public opinion. We've asked this question before. Back in 2017, a strong majority of people, 60%, they saw the U.S. as the moral leader of the world. That's now down to just 39%. Also in the last decade, you've seen more people believing and thinking that the U.S. foreign policy should really benefit America and Americans. Republicans feel especially strongly about that. And then Democrats, by contrast, they're a lot more focused on supporting democracy and human rights overseas.
INSKEEP: What did you hear when you talked with some of the people who took this poll?
LANGFITT: Well, one thing is that - one thing that's really interesting is half the people thought the U.S. is losing influence in the world. And on the morality question, I talked to this woman, Suzanne Watson (ph). She's a retired nurse. She lives out in Colorado. She's a political independent. This is what she said.
SUZANNE WATSON: Up until Trump was elected, we were doing OK. I certainly wouldn't call us the moral leader. We were bullies. We did fairly awful things, but we did a lot of good, and at least on the surface, we tried. And I think that's all given up.
INSKEEP: Frank, I just want to note that this NPR/Ipsos poll was conducted back in December. Events are moving so rapidly that already seems like...
LANGFITT: They are moving very fast.
INSKEEP: ...A long time ago (laughter). Any idea about what people think about America's attack on Venezuela?
LANGFITT: Yeah. Well, there was a separate Ipsos poll out this week, and people are split on removing Maduro, one-third for, one-third against, one-third weren't sure. And this is part of a larger division, I think, that we're seeing on foreign policy these days. Yesterday, I also - I drove up to a Trump merchandise store up north of Philadelphia, and I talked to about a half dozen customers there. All of them, Steve, strongly support Trump's policies overseas. They see him as bold and assertive. There's this guy named Wes Alker (ph). He's 70 years old, a retired auto mechanic. This is what he told me.
WES ALKER: I think that what he did in Iran was a masterpiece. What really, really surprised me was what he did in Venezuela. Holy moly. I heard about it. I got up from off the couch, and I danced. We got someone in the Oval Office with freaking balls.
INSKEEP: OK. But did any Trump supporters express skepticism about Venezuela?
LANGFITT: They did. There's a guy named David Harris (ph) that I talked to. He voted for Trump twice. He works in electronic and TV repair down in Alabama, and he's 55, he'd like to retire, but he says it's really hard in this economy. And I asked him if he were talking to the president, what would he say to him?
DAVID HARRIS: I'd tell him to put America first like he promised he was going to do and stop worrying about these rich companies and oil and other countries and concentrating more on our economy and helping the people of this country, regardless if they're rich or poor and not Venezuelans.
LANGFITT: And, Steve, when I was talking to Harris, he also said that the first thing he thought when he heard about Maduro and the Americans going into Venezuela is he thought, this is not what I voted for.
INSKEEP: Amazing. Kind of a Rorschach test, people measuring Trump against their ideas of what Trump should have been.
LANGFITT: Indeed.
INSKEEP: NPR's Frank Langfitt, thanks so much.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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