As the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps the globe, Americans say the greatest international threat to the well-being of their country is the spread of infectious diseases.
According to a new Pew Research Centre report, nearly all US adults (98%) say this is at least a minor threat, with roughly eight in 10 (79%) naming outbreaks of disease as a major threat to the country.
This is 27 percentage points higher than the level of concern about infectious disease seen in the midst of West Africa’s Ebola outbreak in 2014.
But infectious disease is not the only issue where Americans see a growing threat. Concerns about China and the condition of the global economy have also been on the rise.
The survey, conducted at a time of surging Covid-19 cases in the US, found that worries about both the threat of infectious diseases and the condition of the global economy rose after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on 13 March.
In addition, overwhelming majorities of Americans say co-operation with other countries is important when dealing with each of the international issues tested, and this is especially true of the spread of infectious diseases.
On this issue, 86% say it is very important to co-operate with other countries, and 97% say it is at least somewhat important to cooperate.
These are among the major findings of a Pew Research Center survey of 1 000 U.S. adults conducted by telephone in the US from 3 March to 29 March 2020. The survey took place as Covid-19 spread across Asian and European countries, and then across the US. During the fieldwork period, President Trump declared a major national emergency and the economy endured major shocks, including plummeting stock prices; the closure of many retail, travel and food sectors; and a major drop in the price of oil.
Concern about the threat of disease is high among all Americans, but especially those with less education and lower incomes.
As the Covid-19 outbreak developed across the US, the survey finds concerns about the threat posed by the spread of infectious diseases grew rapidly. However, Americans with less than a college degree are 9 percentage points more likely to be concerned about the threat of infectious disease than those who have a college degree or more education.
Those who have incomes of less than $50 000 per year similarly are 10 points more concerned about the threat posed by infectious diseases than those with higher incomes.
Roughly six in 10 Americans (62%) name China’s power and influence as a major threat, a figure that has increased sharply in recent years. By comparison, in 2017, 41% said China was a major threat to the US.
A majority of Americans also see global climate change (60%) and Russia’s power and influence (56%) as major threats, although stark partisan divides characterise each of these issues.
In general, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents tend to be more concerned than Republicans and Republican-leaning independents about each threat tested on the survey. But this is especially true on the threat of climate change, where there is a 57 percentage point difference between the shares of Democrats (88%) and Republicans (31%) calling climate change a major threat.
Americans generally favour international co-operation to counter threats, but partisan divides persist. On each issue included on the survey, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say that cooperation with other countries is very important. The differences are especially large (over 20 percentage points) on global climate change, global poverty, the condition of the global economy and conflicts between other nations.
On the spread of infectious diseases, Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to say cooperation is very important, although partisan differences are not as stark as on climate change. Roughly nine-in-ten Democrats (92%) say cooperation with other countries is important for dealing with the spread of disease, compared with 79% of Republicans.