By By MANDI STEFEY
Staff Writer
While the opinion on President Obama varies from person to person, IU South Bend student Kaweme Ng’andwe said the public opinion of Obama is reliant on his foreign policy strategy.
Ng’andwe’s research abstract considers the possibility of a relationship between successful foreign policies and the American public opinion of the president. Ng’andwe says foreign policy is integral to politics.
“With growing interdependence among nations, successful foreign policy, I think, is at the core of our national security,” she said.
Her research at the 2013 Undergraduate Research Conference included public opinion polls and approval ratings that revolve around the opinion of the president. These figures will be compared to show the correlation, if any, between foreign policy success and the public opinion.
“Ranging from the end of the Iraqi war to steps made in the control of nuclear weapons, the study focuses on the achievements of the administration’s foreign policy goals,” Ng’andwe says in her research abstract.
She predicted her research will show that after successfully completing a foreign policy goal, there’s only a brief period of time where the American public opinion of the president improves.
Ng’andwe, a political science major who completed the research for her American presidency course, said her background of living in different countries sparked her interest in the subject.
“I have just always been interested in international relations. It is probably thanks to my background,” she explained. “I was born in Zambia and I have lived in the United States for ten years now.”
Ng’andwe became interested in the topic while taking an IUSB course that discussed foreign policy. She was first interested in military intervention, then switched to foreign policy for her research.
Ng’andwe is a political science major and a mathematics minor at IUSB. When she’s not busy being a senator for the Student Government Association, she enjoys spending time with friends, swimming and watching CNN.
