Eight in 10 Americans (80%) are concerned about the possibility of World War III.
We’ve responded to the “Call of Duty” in video games and watched many popular Hollywood dramatizations, but what happens when that bleeds into reality? As conflicts across the globe continue to rage on, the potential of another, real-life world war looms during an uncertain election year.
Talker Research surveyed 1,000 Americans split evenly between Republicans and Democrats and with a subset of Independents, Libertarians or Green Party members. According to the results, an astounding 84% of Republicans and 83% of third-party voters fear we could be heading for a global war.
Though fewer, nearly three-quarters of Democrats (74%) also share those concerns.
The survey also found that women are more concerned than men about a brewing war of the nations (85% vs 71% respectively).
Between Russia invading Ukraine in 2022 on the heels of a war started eight years prior and the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict — not to mention growing tensions in Iran — it’s no surprise that fears are increasing during such a volatile time period.
According to the data, Americans are more concerned about conflicts between Palestine and Israel than they are about Ukraine and Russia (55% vs 28%). One respondent even went so far as to say they’re concerned about “any conflict that our government gets involved with especially when it comes to Russia.”
While American citizens can make their own preparations and form their own opinions, for better or worse, the U.S. government would be a leading force in any conflict that involves the states.
In the event of another world war, Americans polled believe that Donald Trump would be a better leader than Kamala Harris (50% vs 41%), while 14% of third party members don’t believe that either one could save us.
Taking things a step further, if something were to happen to the future President of the United States, Vance (44%) and Walz (43%) were neck and neck for who would make a better replacement.
Women were more likely to favor Walz over Vance (45% vs 40%), though respondents in the Southeast preferred Vance (52%) and Westerners put their faith in Walz (56%).
Survey methodology:
Talker Research surveyed 1,000 Americans who watched the vice presidential debate on Tuesday, October 1, split evenly by political party (400 Democrats, 400 Republicans and 200 Independent/Libertarian/Green Party members); the survey was administered and conducted online by Talker Research between Oct. 1 and Oct. 2, 2024.
We are sourcing from a non-probability frame and the two main sources we use are:
Traditional online access panels — where respondents opt-in to take part in online market research for an incentiveProgrammatic — where respondents are online and are given the option to take part in a survey to receive a virtual incentive usually related to the online activity they are engaging in
Those who did not fit the specified sample were terminated from the survey. As the survey is fielded, dynamic online sampling is used, adjusting targeting to achieve the quotas specified as part of the sampling plan.
Regardless of which sources a respondent came from, they were directed to an Online Survey, where the survey was conducted in English; a link to the questionnaire can be shared upon request. Respondents were awarded points for completing the survey. These points have a small cash-equivalent monetary value.
Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and other parameters are put in place to reach the desired sample.
Interviews are excluded from the final analysis if they failed quality-checking measures. This includes:
Speeders: Respondents who complete the survey in a time that is quicker than one-third of the median length of interview are disqualified as speedersOpen ends: All verbatim responses (full open-ended questions as well as other please specify options) are checked for inappropriate or irrelevant textBots: Captcha is enabled on surveys, which allows the research team to identify and disqualify botsDuplicates: Survey software has “deduping” based on digital fingerprinting, which ensures nobody is allowed to take the survey more than once
It is worth noting that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and the results may not be generalizable to those without internet access.
