The poll, which was released Thursday, was conducted by the Pew Research Center. It asked Americans a series of questions regarding the nation's role in the world.
Forty-nine percent of respondents said the United States should "mind its own business" on the world stage. Thirty-two percent of those surveyed said they favored increasing U.S. troops levels in Afghanistan, and 40 percent said they wanted to decrease them.
"The number of people saying that the United States should mind its own business when it comes to international affairs has never been higher," said Carroll Doherty, associate director of the Pew Research Center.
Musadeq Sadeq, AP
U.S. troops patrol Kabul, Afghanistan. Meanwhile, a new poll shows more Americans think the U.S. should mind its own business when it comes to foreign affairs.
Though Doherty said several factors may account for the trend toward isolationism, he pointed to some possible causes. "There's no doubt that much of this has to do with the fact that we're fighting two wars abroad and have a bad economy at home," he said.
Thursday's report comes from two Pew surveys, both conducted well before Obama announced the troop increase Tuesday night. A poll of 2,000 adults was conducted Oct. 28 to Nov. 8; it has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The second poll of 1,003, conducted Nov. 12 to 15, had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Doherty said that attitudes toward the Afghan war and whether more troops should be deployed there have shifted over the past year. "By and large, Republicans have become more supportive, while Democrats have become less so."
