As a part of our recent nationwide survey (telephone and online) of 1,514 voters, we asked voters the following question: Do agree or disagree with the following statement: North Korea is a bigger threat to the United States than Russia?

A majority of respondents (60%) agree that North Korea is a bigger threat to the United States while about a quarter of voters (26%) disagree. While this basic result holds across various demographic groups, there are significant differences in respect to age, party, support for President Trump, and sympathy to fringe groups such as the alt-right and ANTIFA.

The age of voters appears to play a particularly big role in the threat perception of North Korea and Russia. Thus, while only 46% of voters aged 18-29 agree that North Korea is a bigger threat than Russia, 71% of those aged 65 or over do, with the support for this view increasing monotonically across age groups.

Partisan divide also plays a role to some extent, as 73% of those who approve of President Trump believe that North Korea is a bigger threat than Russia (vs. 51% of those who disapprove) and consistent with that finding, 68% of Republicans believe that North Korea is a bigger threat than Russia compared to 52% of Democrats.

Both support for ANTIFA and alt-right media/politics seem to lead to a greater perceived threat of North Korea. Thus, 81% of those who are sympathetic to alt-right media/politics believe North Korea is a greater threat than Russia, compared to 56% of those who are not sympathetic to this movement. Perhaps surprisingly, those who are sympathetic to the group ANTIFA likewise tend to think that North Korea is a greater threat than Russia as 72% of those sympathetic to the group believe so compared to 58% who are not sympathetic to this group.

Please click here to view the methodology statement.