Most in new poll expect more hostile relations with Russia, North Korea

Most Americans expect increased hostile relations with adversaries like Russia and North Korea in the future, according to a new poll. 

The poll, from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts, found that 60 percent of adults expect relations with the country’s adversaries to get worse, a sharp rise from the 26 percent who said the same four years ago. 

Despite thinking there could be a rise in hostilities with adversaries, only 21 percent of those surveyed believe the country’s relationship with its allies will decline in the future, dropping from 46 percent four years ago. 

Pollsters found that views of the country’s domestic policies influence views of the country’s international standing. 

Sheila Kohanteb, the executive director of the Global Forum for the Pearson Institute, told AP that the results “clearly” show that “hyperpartisanship” is affecting how each party sees the United States’s position internationally. 

She said the key factor in determining how someone would respond to the poll is “political bloc staying with political bloc.” 

Pollsters reported that three-quarters of Democrats expected the country’s global standing to worsen four years ago, in the middle of the Trump administration, while about the same amount now expect stability or improved standing in the future. About 6 in 10 Republicans expected improved standing four years ago, while the same proportion now believe the country’s standing will decline. 

The overall percentage of Americans who expect the country’s international standing to worsen did decrease, from 48 percent in 2018 to 39 percent today. 

The results come as Russia and North Korea have shown aggression toward close U.S. allies. 

Russia has been engaged in a major war in Ukraine as it attempts to take over the country based on false pretenses of liberating the Ukrainians and Russians in Ukraine. The country has struggled to oppose the momentum of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, but Russia carried out missile strikes throughout Ukraine on Monday in a significant escalation of the war. 

North Korea has also conducted a series of missile tests near South Korea and Japan in an apparent show of force to the United States and its allies.