Key Asian Opinion Polls Now Available in English on Mansfield Foundation Website

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) January 5, 2006

Researchers, journalists, Asia specialists and others who struggle to track trends in Northeast Asia now have available at their fingertips top-of-the-line results, in English, of public opinion surveys from Japan, Korea and China, thanks to a new resource on the website of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation.

The Mansfield Foundation has launched its Asian Opinion Poll Database, a treasure chest of policy-oriented public opinion surveys conducted by major Asian news and polling agencies and previously unavailable in English. The Foundation has translated and posted on its website (http://www.mansfieldfdn.org) the results of key surveys that focus on issues of salient importance to policy making and regional diplomacy, such as:

·Public attitudes toward the United States, the U.S.-Japan alliance and other nations in Northeast Asia

·Perceptions of China’s rising power and potential North Korean threat

·Regional economic competition

·Domestic political trends

·Support for national governments and administrations

The Asian Opinion Poll Database currently features surveys conducted by the Nikkei Shimbun (Japan), Cabinet Office (Japan), Joong-Ang Ilbo (South Korea), and Dong-A Ilbo (South Korea). The Foundation plans to expand this list of participating media and polling agencies, to include a broad cross-section of organizations in Japan and South Korea as well as the People’s Republic of China. Over time, the surveys will be archived and commentary and analysis from prominent Asia experts will be added. The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership provided initial funding to create the database.

“In the course of our work to improve U.S. understanding of Asia, we discovered that there was no central site on the Internet where researchers, journalists and others could access English translations of public opinion surveys conducted in Japan, South Korea and to a lesser extent, China,” noted Weston S. Konishi, Mansfield Foundation director of programs. “We created the Asian Opinion Poll Database to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ to polling data in English. Because there is no other research tool like it, we expect that the database will become a valued resource for tracking public opinion trends with important implications for U.S.-Asia relations and regional policymaking.”

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization that promotes understanding and cooperation among the nations and peoples of Asia and the United States. The Foundation honors the late Mike Mansfield and his wife Maureen. Mansfield served as U.S. congressman from Montana, senate majority leader and U.S. ambassador to Japan. Maureen and Mike Mansfield’s values, ideals and vision for U.S.-Asia relations continue through the Foundation’s exchanges, dialogues, research and educational programs, which create networks among U.S. and Asian leaders, explore the underlying issues influencing public policies, and increase awareness about the nations and peoples of Asia. The Foundation has offices in Washington, D.C.; Tokyo, Japan; and Missoula, Montana.        

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