Heading into tonight’s debate, which will focus on foreign policy, Ruy Teixeira at the Center for American Progress posted a whirlwind of public opinion polling data on foreign policy issues.  The results are pretty surprising.  Some highlights:  83% of Americans think that “improving America’s standing in the world” is “very important”—more than the 80% and 67% that deemed “protecting the jobs of American workers” and “combating international terrorism” very important goals.  76% think the US should commit itself to a treaty to lower carbon emissions, and 68% think the US should join the International Criminal Court.

Here’s one of Teixeira’s graphs:

This one is particularly relevant—59% of Americans support an international institution dedicated to monitoring the world financial markets.  This past week, leaders from countries all over the world dedicated their speeches at the annual opening of the UN General Assembly in New York to berating the US government for the current financial crisis.  The speeches eventually degenerated into a frustrating game of “I told you so,” with German Chancellor Angela Merkel recalling her conversation with President Bush and former Prime Minister Tony Blair at last year’s G8 summit, when she urged both leaders to supervise their financial markets more closely.  Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva argued that the General Assembly “must not allow the burden of the boundless greed of a few to be shouldered by all,” and Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon disdainfully noted the disparity between Congress’s $700 billion bailout plan and the US’s unwillingness to pledge $72 billion to the UN.  French President Nicolas Sarkozy was the only world leader to offer a semi-constructive response by calling for a global capitalism summit later this year.

I was annoyed about these reactions because they play directly into the GOP’s depiction of the UN as ineffectual and petty.  The public apparently doesn’t see it that way, though, and the majority of Americans agree with Sarkozy’s notion that the “global nature of this crisis means that the solutions we adopt must also be global.”  I just hope Teixeira’s data gets the attention it deserves.