ISIS at least makes sense because it is functioning as a sort of pseudo-state right now, and it certainly has positioned itself as an enemy of the US. The Middle East answer though... that's just ignorance.
I tried ISIS for exactly this reason. It holds itself out as an independent state (and it is intent on the destruction of non-Muslims) so I think it's a reasonable response.
I know, but since 9/11, the media has been only showing significant school shootings if the perpetrators are either young or Muslim. I had to search YouTube to look at the news about the New Zealand mosque shooting because our media is racist.
Oh please, if there is a mass shooting in the US it is widely publicized no matter who it is. The shooting in LV, just this week the Wisconsin mall shootings was broadcast all over. You usually get tv stations to break into programming to report it many times as well no matter who is the shooter. Most are white men.
Gallup may claim their methodology is scientifically accurate, but these general polls have severe problems 99.99% of the time. One being that mean and median age of respondents is much higher than that of the general population. So yes, probably they were.
A lot of Americans in the tech and auto industries (among others) would consider Japan their biggest economic enemy, it's probably not what the question meant but that doesn't stop them answering that way.
I remember a guy in a bar telling me that the 2011 tsunami was God punishing the Japanese for Pearl Harbor. Obliterating two cities with the atomic bomb wasn't good enough, so God decided to wait 70 years until anyone old enough to have any say in the decision to ally with Germany was dead or close to it, and then strike.
Yeah, but people don't blame *Mexico* for that, because it's not like people think their government is *sending* them here – it's just that lots of Mexicans want to come here for a better life, yadda yadda yadda. Americans blame our *own* government for not deporting them all pronto, and not building a giant wall to keep them out. Specifically, they blame President Obama. Thanks, Obama!
I'm an American with a degree in history, and am mostly optimistic about other Americans, but I was able to get all but one (I feel like 'US itself,' is a trick question) just by saying "Americans can be stupid, so which nations do stupid people just plain dislike?"
I'm honestly surprised Germany and the UK aren't on it. In a Donald Trump America, Mexico would move up in the rankings quickly.
Because of the constant denunciations of Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, by the Bush and Obama administration, echoed in large sections of the media. Chavez not only used Venezuela's oil wealth to create a form of socialism, but vigorously opposed U.S. meddling in Venezuela's affairs (including the failed coup during Chavez' first term that the Bush Administration cheered on) and tried to organize a regional alliance, with Bolivia, Cuba and sometimes Ecuador, of left-leaning states opposed to U.S. policies. Chavez and Maduro have also attempted to repress domestic opposition (with mixed results), which U.S. governments have historically ignored when friendly regimes engage in it but denounce when done by opponents.
Several Latin American countries have politics and leaders that are openly hostile to the United States. Venezuela and Cuba might be the most well known but Bolivia and Colombia are similarly vocal in their anti-Americanism. I don't think any of them have actually been a threat to the United States, though, at least not since Cuba was accepting shipments of nuclear missiles from the Soviet Union.
To be honest, none of these countries, with the remote possible exceptions of North Korea and Iran (and then mostly of the US's own making), are a threat to the US.
as an iranian: whith honor and pride; the number one enemy of us is united states who has toppled over a dozen of popular and independent governments and is backing enemies of democracy (mostly arab tyrannical regimes).
It's not. If Iran were willing to engage in peaceful trade, diplomacy, and coexistence with the United States and the rest of the world they would have nothing to fear from them. As they did prior to 1979. And as they were moving toward doing again before Trump took over. Once he's gone the door will be open again.
I’ve seen videos of your country. Not the militaristic things, but the sights to see there. Iran is a beautiful country with rich history. But since I’m an American, I can’t go. Since 9/11, we have been taking armies to the Middle East to “sort things out.” But it’s true that we have gone a bit overboard, just because Iran became “a hub for terrorism” and because the country doesn’t support one of the US’ closest current allies, Israel. Because of the hate surrounding us, I’m sometimes afraid to reveal that I’m American. I hope some day, I can go to the Iran Mall and know that I won’t be hated because of my nationality.
Even moreso than citizens of the United States should be wary of the US government or the country itself, Iranians ought to be as well- the number one threat to you in Iran are those in power and the people in the country blinded by propaganda that support them. They will try and convince you to hate Americans and blame everything on them as a way of distracting from their own failures as leaders. Trump does the same thing - trying to get everyone to call COVID-19 the "China virus," for example - he and other incompetent autocratic leaders around the world have a lot in common. Also, the Iranian ayatollahs are no better than any Arab kings. This is more propaganda.
I get countries like Yemen and Syria in the Middle East, but the small countries on the Persian Gulf pose no threat to any country. Seriously, you think Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE are going to annihilate you in a war. Really. (although I doubt many Americans even know the Persian Gulf exists)
When one of my daughters was a teenager, she and her boyfriend were playing Trivial Pursuit with us. One of the questions was about dropping the bomb on Japan and her boyfriend looked incredulous as he asked, "We fought a war with Japan?" It made me realize what a difference a generation can make. (And it also made me wonder what is being taught in history class these days.)
I didn't think to guess it, but once I saw the US was an answer, I was immediately like "yeah, that makes sense." It's true in more than one sense of the word - hardly anyone trusts the government (and with good reason), we're sharply divided against each other politically and getting worse all the time, and gang violence and public shootings are still a major problem that kills more US citizens than any other nation does.
Absolutely! - Add to that third-world wages and health care, the lack of truly affordable housing and the onslaught of taxes, fines, duties, tolls, value-added taxes ad infinitum and you can certainly understand why many Americans consider our own country our greatest enemy. We are always the first in line to send aid to other countries (even when we're not asked to) while our own people are underpaid, under employed and under attack. What would YOU call that!
Japan was probably kept alive in these results by the phase of economic anxiety when it seemed Japan was threatening to surpass the US economically, though even that's 20-30 years back now.
I would love to see the answers for this poll if it were taken today. I would imagine russia, north korea, and U.S. itself would all get big bumps based on recent events.
I would say that greenland (Denmark)is a far bigger threat to america than russia or china because thats were all the land ice is melting causing sea rising
Russia is still a much bigger threat than China. They are actively and aggressively working to undermine American and European democracies. They have assassinated Westerners on Western soil. They have put bounties on the heads of American servicemen. They've been pulling the strings of our idiot president to get him to act against the interests of the American people. China has done none of that.
Soooo, people don't seem to know that Nixon normalized relations with China, that we've been staunch allies with Japan since 1945, that neither ISIS or Palestine are official states and that the "Middle East" is one country. Dear God we're all screwed!
Constantly having perceived enemies to keep the populace afraid, not only makes people easily manipulable, but it helps keep lots of people in the military industrial industries rich and happy. The whole 'weapons of mass destruction' thing was a classic beat beat up just to instill fear in people and so many people learnt nothing from it or forget all about it after a couple of years. The USA itself should probably be top of the lists.
japan makes zero sense? I have lived in phoenix Arizona my whole life and have never once heard a single person say anything bad about japan. In fact many Americans consider japan to be our 2nd closest ally after the UK
The only one I missed was Japan. Who the heck sees Japan as a threat? Are they stuck in the '40s? The war is over; friends now. ;) I'm not saying that I agree on all the others being a threat; I just know where the idea came from. But Japan I am completely baffled by.
I can only hope that in seventy years or so, many of those who commented here about Japan are as ready to forgive the terrorists who flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as they are forgiving of Japan today. I wasn't born in 1941, but I still remember the horror with which my parents referred to that day (and they were barely teenagers at the time). We must NEVER forget assaults on our country, regardless of when they happened.
Japan and terrorists are different in multiple ways. In 1941 it was much more clear who we were fighting, an actual country. Since 2001 it's harder to tell who we are fighting, terrorists are dressed in civilian clothing making it much more difficult to tell. And we don't forgive Japan for attacking the US, but that was a different Japan than what Japan is today. After we won in the Pacific we helped Japan rewrite a new constitution as well as we gave them capitalistic ideology allowing them to become one of the most tech advanced countries in the world along with South Korea where us Americans get most of are tech from. So, no we won't forgive anyone who attacked are great nation.
Watch "Canadian Bacon" if you want to know what we're capable of - "Surrender pronto, or we'll level Toronto!" We're watching you up there, and "we have ways of making you speak the letter O, pal."
Who said anything about forgiving terrorists? If all terrorists were from the country of Terrorististan and 70 years from now that country was as secular and peaceful as Japan is today, I don't think anyone would have any problem not bearing any animus toward this imaginary country's citizens. At the same time that doesn't mean we're going to be okay with the 9/11 hijackers any more than today we're going to forgive the soldiers who oversaw the rape of Nanjing or the surgeons who did unspeakable things in Unit 731. But not all terrorists are from the same place and they don't represent any national entity.
Then you go on to say we should NEVER forget assaults on "our country." So... does that mean that you were being sarcastic? And that you think we are wrong to not hate the people of Japan today for something that their government did in the 1940s?
divantilya - I didn't expect someone with at least a passable general knowledge and the ability to articulate himself to write a comment of such stupidity and near-sightedness. If your attitude had a shred of validity, how many countries could I hate, and how many peoples in foreign countries could hate me, for deeds that happened decades ago and that were committed by different people. I'm glad that the vast majority of Eurpeans don't think like you, because otherwise we would be at each others' throats all the time, and I'm glad the vast majority of Americans disagree with you, because otherwise the world would be even much more of a war-torn hell than it is now already. If your parents held a life-long grudge against the Japanese and even passed it on to you, what is the proper reaction of an Iraqi guy who lost his whole family because of American bombings? Terrorism, perhaps?
Right now the greatest threat to the country is coming from the executive branch, followed closely by the legislative and then the judicial. I'd put Russia as #2, though of course they had a lot to do with undermining American democracy they would not have succeeded if not for the groundwork laid for them by the Republican party and conservative media and their oligarch masters, assisted as always by the liberals who have their heads so firmly up their own rears they can't see how to win and unloseable election and devote at least half their attention to worrying about the wrong things.
After #1 and #2 I don't think anyone out there is a genuine threat to the United States. If forced to pick somebody I guess China might be #3 but that's mostly because they have an effective government while the US does not and while their power grows America's necessarily wanes; not because of any nefarious intent.
update: #1 Russia #2 the judicial branch (after being stacked to the gills with awfulness by the other 2 branches for decades) #3 the legislative branch #4 China #5 North Korea
The executive is no longer a threat to the country or the world but that could change quickly.
All the people who are expressing some sense of despair at this: did you notice that the list of perceived enemies is shrinking smaller and smaller year by year? And none of the odd or surprising answers are above 2%. Don't get so excited.
The reason the list was so short in 2018 was because so many people agreed that North Korea was the biggest enemy. A long list doesn't indicate the perception of many enemies: just that people are in disagreement.
Right. But it makes sense to be worried about North Korea. (though it would make more sense to worry about Russia) The fact that more people are getting a "correct" answer and fewer are throwing out answers like France, Japan, or Cuba is good news, right?
If people stop thinking France is more of a threat than North Korea that could be down to either decreased stupidity or more worry about North Korea or both. (I would guess it was mainly due to the incidents with the ICBMs). But it isn't really good news if in someone's mind North Korea just overtakes France as #1 enemy (admittedly there were a few years inbetween, but it is a simplification).
But I agree that there is little reason for despair in these statistics. It is just a list of countries that people either don't like or feel worried about. There are always going to be some stupid answers and a wide range of plausible ones.
Also the people who answered "the Middle East". Aside from thinking "the Middle East" is a single country, the most plausible reason I can think of is that people think all/most of the countries in the ME act collectively with aligned goals, which is also an amusing level of ignorance.
That was my first thought, but Vietnam isn't on there, so I don't think its people thinking about decades-old wars. I have other weak guesses that people view Japan as an economic threat (was a big thing in the 1980s but not so plausible recently) or some political news we've now forgotten that had people's attention at the time (e.g., talking of revising their constitution to allow broader use of their military -- although that is more recent than the survey results).
I actually do think that it's Pearl Harbor. My grandmother's generation (rapidly dying off now, might be why it's no longer an answer in 2018) is still very mad at Japan. But my father's generation (who fought in Vietnam)? I don't think they're holding a grudge at all. Those are the people more likely to answer that America is it's own greatest enemy. They never really understood why we were fighting Vietnam in the first place.
Obviously the topic is subjective, but I think the U.S. and Russia should be tied for first. While you could argue politics and economy, let's remember that between the two countries, the world has almost ended multiple times simply from nuclear threat. Will the two countries get along? I don't know, and that's the scary part.
I also see one that says, "He** no, we ain't forgettin'!" My favorite is, "American by birth, Southern by the grace of God." Regarding the US being on the enemy list, Walt Kelly's 'possum Pogo said it best, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
This is a great quiz. It's also sad. I'm from the USA, and a lot of the people I talk to say North Korea is a huge threat ... and surprise, surprise, they don't even know where it is, or anything about it's population, size of its military, or the estimates of the types of weapons N.Korea might have. Most of these answers are based on ignorance t and "American" arrogance and bigotry and not on any real knowledge of the global landscape. ...and I'm in the 1% that put USA as its own #1 enemy. The whole thing about Russia messing with the election, however much Russia did troll US social media, ultimately, it is/was the ignorance of Americans who believed it. Most 'fake news' is easy to spot if you have even half an education and falling for it requires a special kind of stupid.
This is a quiz website. The only thing jetpunk cares about are numbers. Not politics. And even when it's about politics, it's about the numbers. You will never see a quiz that says, How do you feel about........on jetpunk. Your feelings are insignificant........jetpunk data rulz. All your base are belong to us!!!!!!!!
While it's ridiculous to consider Israel a threat to the United States, I was also mildly surprised to see that there weren't at least 1% of people who said that it was. Particularly among liberal Millennials, college students, and Muslim-Americans I think this would be a popular answer. This might be another clue that the polling data skews toward older respondents.
There should be at least small percentage who are against world Jewry, controlling of banks and media, human right violations. So it's not really ridiculous
Yeah all that Russian collusion was crazy that got proven with all that hard evidence that it was happening. Good thing Donald is in jail for that now.
Americans are more capable of self-reflection and accepting of honest criticism (and, ironically given the false stereotypes, less given to mindless blind patriotism) than most people around the world, that's why.
They are MILES ahead of Muslim countries for that. Turkey cowers from their role in the Armenian genocide and tries to justify it. Part of Arab tribalism is deflecting the problems of one's community onto another. I used to be Muslim and I learnt a lot in that time.
Boy, I sure hope those who think Russia is the #1 enemy of the US don't go straight into McCarthyism. I hope even more that they don't double down harder now that the Mueller report has concluded with no indictments. Too late.
The fact that a question like this even has to exist and has so many on the list proves how messed up America is. No wonder they need to spend so much on military. It isn't so they can back up other countries like Canada etc., it's because they piss off so many people around the world and because they invade other countries for no credible reason (i.e Iraq.) Make a question like this about almost any other wealthy country or certainly western wealthy country and you'd have no list!
This is false. In fact there's another quiz on the site about Russia's perceived enemies. I'm sure you could do the same poll in the UK, France, Japan, South Korea, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Italy... and can think of probable answers for all of the above... which hippy commune are you from where the people get along with everyone and have never had any historical rivalries, conflicts, or disagreements?
I'm sure the USSR would have dominated any such poll all during the Cold War, with mentions of Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Egypt, East Germany and so on. It's sad to see that Russia had sunk so low - down to 2% some years - only to resurge the way it has. And it's mostly Vladimir Putin's fault. Things could have gone a different way.
That is interesting. Most of the time if you conducted similar polls in other countries, the list would be dominated by other countries that were geographically proximate. The USA, in spite of once invading Canada, and going to war with Mexico, doesn't seem to hold a grudge for very long the way some other cultures do, and tend to get along better with their neighbors.
Another reason for this might be that the USA has the capability of projecting military power and economic and political influence all over the world; they can make enemies everywhere; other countries can only do this more locally.
Very good points there - I guess the question that I would ask if I was an American is why the country wants to have the "capability of projecting military power and economic and political influence all over the world", and therefore the ability to make enemies everywhere..... Looking at the enormous military "defense" budget, it seems like quite an expensive job!
bigger curveball was that this disappears from the answers in 2016-2020, the years when the United States clearly did become its own worst enemy, or at least a good chunk of its government and the population that supports it.
I'm sure that those who are self-reflective enough to understand that the US is imperfect and that fundamentally it is a greater threat to itself than any foreign power could hope to be, answer this way out of love for the country and a desire to see it improve, or despair at seeing it being taken down or made worse. Not because they hate the US and wish to live somewhere else.
I tried answers that would be obvious to a more educated person, such as all the individual countries of the Middle East, but then I noticed that the questionnaire was asked to the average American - so I then started guessing the things that don't even make sense, such as Germany, France and Italy. It's sad that one of them worked!
I mean I guess Germany kind of makes sense, because of both world wars, but I don't think the average American even knew Italy even fought in WWII, despite them being an Axis Power.
Well, Israel and the US are allies (the reason why the United States is vetoing Palestinian membership in the UN) and I'm not sure how it could suddenly come to an Americans head that Israel is a "bad guy".
Well Israel's prime minister was stirring up a lot of sentiment against former president Obama, and by extension the Democratic party. Now look who is in the Oval Office. The one person who has destroyed our health care system during the worst pandemic in a century, and turned this country into a laughing stock throughout the world.
I guess Israel was counted through the Middle East, but Israel is getting constant help from the US and is not like the Arab states in the Middle East where if your not Muslim, your dead. Israel has the highest quality of life in the Middle East and is a peaceful and prosperous nation, just geographically situated in a bad area.
The fact that you feel the need to announce you are not bigoted against Jews before anyone else even responded to you suggests that you might be bigoted against Jews.
Where's Canada? I'm telling you now USA; those drug dealing Snow Mexicans are tunneling in under your border fences and their coming for your daughters! I've warned you...
Nice updated version! <3 Interesting recent swing back to mid 20th century type answers, seems like Cold War II is realer than ever nowadays. I wonder if without the current virus China would’ve still figured so highly this year though??
One noticeable thing here for me is the rapid rise of Russia in this list. I would bet it has to do with media coverage of Russia's supposed influence in the US election and perhaps Russia's involvement in the Syrian civil war and Ukraine.
Or maybe it has to do with Russia's influence in the US election? Which was a real thing that happened. Just a thought.
... could also be Russia actively meddling in elections all over the world notably in Europe, trying to bring down NATO and Western democracy, propping up nationalists and Nazis and populists and nativists and those given to identity politics and other undesirables because these people inspire disunity and strife, invading and occupying sovereign nations to redraw borders through military conquest for the first time in Europe since the end of World War 2, Putin's obvious desire to resurrect the Soviet Union, the shooting down of commercial passenger airlines, the shameless murder of numerous critics of the regime both within Russia's borders and abroad, and their support of Donald Trump who remains the single greatest threat to the present international order and prosperity of the world. Could be that, too.
??? After that list of stuff Putin is doing you still think Trump is a bigger threat to world prosperity? Oops, just now realized this comment was from 2020...
Currently with Trump mostly out of power at Mar-a-Lardo and mired in legal troubles, and Putin threatening to annex parts of Ukraine? No. Putin is clearly a bigger threat at present. But that has the potential to change.
Funny that Americans still see Iraq as a threat, when it was the US who invaded them by lying that they had weapons of mass destruction (which they didn't). Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths has been the result of it, and George W. Bush who was the one who invaded Iraq has not been penalized of his war crimes.
The official standing for ISIS according to Google is
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Islamic State of Iran and Syria
It does spell ISIL because in English that is the name, in Arabic it would be ISIS
Great point you've made. Now I'll be looking out for this.
I'm honestly surprised Germany and the UK aren't on it. In a Donald Trump America, Mexico would move up in the rankings quickly.
Also, are there people that uneducated to think that the Middle East is one country?
Today, in light of the presidential election, some might find it cruelly prophetic.
Then you go on to say we should NEVER forget assaults on "our country." So... does that mean that you were being sarcastic? And that you think we are wrong to not hate the people of Japan today for something that their government did in the 1940s?
Confusing comment...
6. Venezuela
5. China
4. North Korea
3. Russia
2. United States itself
1. Belgium
After #1 and #2 I don't think anyone out there is a genuine threat to the United States. If forced to pick somebody I guess China might be #3 but that's mostly because they have an effective government while the US does not and while their power grows America's necessarily wanes; not because of any nefarious intent.
The executive is no longer a threat to the country or the world but that could change quickly.
Also the people who answered "the Middle East". Aside from thinking "the Middle East" is a single country, the most plausible reason I can think of is that people think all/most of the countries in the ME act collectively with aligned goals, which is also an amusing level of ignorance.
THE ANIME APOCALYPSE IS COMING!!!
But please don't tell Trump that his "pet" Russia remains on the list! -
I also hope we can end Russian influence and crime without going into McCarthyism.
Another reason for this might be that the USA has the capability of projecting military power and economic and political influence all over the world; they can make enemies everywhere; other countries can only do this more locally.
Maybe it means you prefer many other countries which are not in this poll results.
Well it shows pretty well how accurate their opinions are...
... could also be Russia actively meddling in elections all over the world notably in Europe, trying to bring down NATO and Western democracy, propping up nationalists and Nazis and populists and nativists and those given to identity politics and other undesirables because these people inspire disunity and strife, invading and occupying sovereign nations to redraw borders through military conquest for the first time in Europe since the end of World War 2, Putin's obvious desire to resurrect the Soviet Union, the shooting down of commercial passenger airlines, the shameless murder of numerous critics of the regime both within Russia's borders and abroad, and their support of Donald Trump who remains the single greatest threat to the present international order and prosperity of the world. Could be that, too.
For some reason I guessed them both, but not USA ITSELF.
What a plot twist.
I was actually thinking of typing it as a joke but I didn't smh, only other I missed was Libya I guessed Algeria and Egypt but not Libya