Fewer Americans say China, Russia top threats to US: Gallup

Lauren Sforza
·2 min read
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Fewer Americans are labeling China and Russia as top threats to the United States compared to last year, according to a new Gallup poll.

The survey found 41 percent of respondents see China as the “greatest enemy” to the U.S. today, while 26 percent said the same of Russia. These shares are both down from last year, when 50 percent and 32 percent listed China and Russia, respectively, as the U.S.’s top enemy.

Republicans and independents are more likely to list China as the top enemy, while Democrats are more likely to list Russia. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans, 40 percent of independents and 18 percent of Democrats listed China in the survey. Meanwhile, 48 percent of Democrats, 21 percent of independents and 10 percent of Republicans selected Russia.

More Americans in 2024 also listed Iran as the top threat to the U.S., Gallup noted, with 9 percent of respondents choosing it compared to just 2 percent who said so in 2023. Four percent of adults in the new survey selected North Korea/Korea as a top enemy — down 3 percentage points from last year.

Additionally, 5 percent of Americans now say the U.S. was its own worst enemy, which is up 4 points from last year. Pollsters noted this is the highest percentage of Americans who said the U.S. is its own worst enemy since 2005. Eleven percent of independents said the U.S. was its top enemy, according to the new poll.

Israel and Ukraine were each listed by 2 percent of respondents, while 1 percent selected the Middle East and Iraq each. None of those countries or regions were chosen last year.

The poll released Monday also found Russia and North Korea have the worst favorable ratings at 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively. The countries with the top favorable rankings are Canada and Japan, each getting 83 percent favorable ratings.

The new survey was conducted among 1,016 adults from Feb. 1-20 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

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