17 March 2023

Republicans say China is America’s biggest threat, Democrats say Russia

Conn Carroll

Asked by Gallup to name the nation’s greatest enemy, 50% of Americans volunteered China as their top choice, including 76% of Republicans. Democrats chose Russia as the greatest enemy of the United States. North Korea finished a distant third for respondents from both parties.

This will be the third year in a row that most Americans chose China as America’s greatest enemy. In the history of the poll, only Iran has held the top spot longer, and even then, just 32% chose Iran as the top threat.

China’s “association with the origin of COVID” appears to be driving the Republican and independent belief that China is the nation’s biggest threat. As recently as 2018, just 11% of all adults thought China was America's greatest enemy. That percentage had already doubled to 22% by 2020 before soaring to 50% this year. Just last week, the Department of Energy joined the FBI in naming a Chinese lab leak as the most likely origin of COVID-19.

Only North Korea has ever topped 50% in this Gallup poll, reaching 51% in 2018 before President Donald Trump temporarily defused tensions with the Hermit Kingdom.

Gallup has only been asking the question since 2000. Most likely, Russia would have been the top response at any time between World War II's end and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Traditionally, it was the Republicans who were most likely to identify Russia as America’s greatest enemy, but that all changed after Hillary Clinton baselessly blamed Russian interference for her 2016 loss to Trump.

As recently as 2018, a majority of Democrats (67%) believed the false claim that "Russia tampered with vote tallies in order to get Donald Trump elected." There is no evidence Russia tampered with any votes.

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