Our expert research provides trusted, balanced insight and analysis on US foreign policy and America’s global engagement and advances policy solutions on critical global issues.
New survey data shows a partisan divide on what Americans believe is the greatest threat to the United States: Democrats rank violent white nationalist groups the highest, while Republicans list China as the greatest threat.
Dina Smeltz and Brendan Helm analyze public opinion data showing while most Americans think US democracy is still functioning, they believe it has been either temporarily or permanently weakened.
Craig Kafura, Dina Smeltz, Joshua Busby, Joshua D. Kertzer, Jonathan Monten, and Jordan Tama analyze recent surveys of foreign policy professionals and the American public on the degree of threat posed by China and how the United States should respond.
While Americans of all political stripes remain committed to allies and alliances, the public is divided along partisan lines on the value of international organizations.
Overall, Americans prefer to maintain defense spending. But Democrats, younger people, and those with a college education prefer cuts, while Republicans prefer expansion.
American's favorable views of South Korea are at an all-time high and a majority of Americans support using US troops to defend South Korea if invaded by North Korea.
A large majority of Democrats (73%) consider racial inequality in the United States a critical threat to the country, while Republicans consider it a relatively low-level threat.
