{"id":12217,"date":"2017-04-05T06:55:50","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T11:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/americans-hold-very-negative-views-of-north-korea-amid-nuclear-tensions\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:17:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:17:02","slug":"americans-hold-very-negative-views-of-north-korea-amid-nuclear-tensions","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2017\/04\/05\/americans-hold-very-negative-views-of-north-korea-amid-nuclear-tensions\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans hold very negative views of North Korea amid nuclear tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Americans have uniformly negative views of North Korea and its nuclear ambitions \u2013 a subject likely to be high on the agenda when President Donald Trump meets in Florida this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Roughly two-thirds of Americans (65%) are very concerned about North Korea having nuclear weapons. And 64% say that in the event of a serious conflict, the United States should use military force to defend its Asian allies, such as Japan, South Korea or the Philippines, against the Pyongyang regime, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. A further 61% think sanctions, rather than attempts at closer ties, are the best way to deal with the nuclear threat posed by the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Overall, 78% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the communist nation ruled by Kim Jong Un, with 61% holding a very<\/em> unfavorable opinion.\u00a0Negative attitudes toward North Korea are shared across demographic groups, though more college-educated Americans hold negative views\u00a0(91%) than do Americans with a high school education or less (69%). Unlike public opinion on other aspects of U.S. foreign policy<\/a>, there are no significant partisan divides on attitudes toward North Korea.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

However, when it comes to concerns about North Korea\u2019s nuclear arsenal, there is a slight partisan difference. Roughly three-quarters of Republicans (74%) are very concerned about the weapons program, compared with 66% of Democrats.\u00a0There\u00a0is a larger division by age\u00a0on concern about the North\u2019s nukes.\u00a0<\/span>Nearly eight-in-ten Americans ages 50 and older (78%) say they are very concerned about North Korea having nuclear weapons, compared with only 42% of 18- to 29-year-olds.<\/p>\n\n

On the question of defending U.S. allies in Asia in the event of an attack by North Korea, 64% of Americans say the U.S. should use force to defend its allies, while only three-in-ten say the U.S. should not. Republicans are more likely than Democrats (70% vs. 61%) to favor using force if there were an attack, which is required by treaties signed with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Men (73%) are also more likely than women (56%) to say the U.S. should defend Asian allies in this hypothetical situation, and college-educated Americans are more willing to use force (74%) than are those with a high school education or less (59%).<\/p>\n\n

When given an option between increasing economic sanctions against Kim Jong Un\u2019s authoritarian regime to deal with its nuclear program or deepening ties with North Korea, 61% of Americans prefer increasing the already-severe sanctions that are in place. Only 28% say they want to deal with the nuclear issue by engaging more and deepening ties with the country. Republicans (70%) are keener on sanctions than Democrats (61%), as are older Americans (69%) compared with young people\u00a0(49%).<\/p>\n\n

Note: See<\/i>\u00a0here<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0for topline results of our survey and\u00a0<\/i>methodology<\/i><\/span><\/a>. For more on American views of China, see \u201c<\/i>Americans\u2019 Views of China Improve as Economic Concerns Ease<\/i><\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overall, 78% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the communist nation ruled by Kim Jong Un, with 61% holding a very unfavorable opinion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"bylines":[{"key":"c90bde13-661b-4de8-8961-dca7c05b5e5c","termId":624}],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[117,26,99,127],"bylines":[624],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[507,514],"research-teams":[525],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-12217","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-global-image-of-countries","category-international-affairs","category-nuclear-weapons-2","category-nuclear-weapons-1","bylines-jacob-poushter","formats-short-read","regions-countries-asia-pacific","regions-countries-international","research-teams-global"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":470,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2017\/04\/05\/americans-hold-very-negative-views-of-north-korea-amid-nuclear-tensions\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":23097,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png?w=420&h=274&crop=1","width":420,"height":274,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":23097,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":23097,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":23097,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":23097,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png?w=420&h=274&crop=1","width":420,"height":274,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":23097,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2017\/03\/FT_17.03.30_NorthKorea_1.png?w=420&h=274&crop=1","width":420,"height":274,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Americans hold very negative views of North Korea","description":"Overall, 78% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the communist nation ruled by Kim Jong Un, with 61% holding a very unfavorable opinion.","og_title":"Americans hold very negative views of North Korea amid nuclear tensions","og_description":"Overall, 78% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the communist nation ruled by Kim Jong Un, with 61% holding a very unfavorable opinion. 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