A recent JZ Analytics poll found that about two in five (39%) of US adults are unsure of whether President Obama during his first three years in office has paid to little, too much or sufficient time on African issues. The question begs the answer: Are Americans even informed enough of what's going on in Africa other than chaos?
When adults were asked if they thought America was missing out on commercial opportunities, less than a quarter (22%) thought agreed, while a majority (55%) polled were not sure. Not surprisingly, people who make over 100k annually were the most positive about Africa, with 31% agreeing America was missing out on possible economic opportunities.
On a somewhat positive note, when adults were asked if they if they thought Africa was a continent of opportunity, a continent in crisis or somewhere in between, almost as many of adults who said it was a continent of opportunity (32%) versus a continent in crisis (35%) were close to equal.
Americans are very unsure of what opportunities lay in Africa. This is in part because most news coming from the continent is downright horrible. The other problem is while we are unsure about what to do on this massive continent, other countries are reaping the benefits of Africa's rich natural resources such as oil, gas and rare minerals. I would bet the farm that most Americans are unaware that China has played a more constructive role in Africa than America.