What do Americans really think about conflict with nuclear North Korea? The answer is both reassuring and disturbing
By Alida R. Haworth , Scott D. Sagan, Benjamin A. Valentino | July 2, 2019
A thoroughgoing survey of US public opinion about war in East Asia produced some reassuring results. Most Americans, for example, do not want the United States to launch a preventive war against North Korea. But our survey also showed that a large hawkish minority lurks within the US public; over a third of respondents approve of a US preventive strike across scenarios. For many of these hawks, support for an attack, even in a preventive war, does not significantly decrease when the story says that the United States would use nuclear weapons that are expected to kill 1 million North Korean civilians.
A survey shows that a large hawkish minority lurks within the US public. It would likely support a nuclear attack on North Korea, even if it killed 1 million civilians
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Alida R. Haworth
Alida R. Haworth is a research assistant at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University. She graduated... Read More
Scott D. Sagan
Member, Science and Security Board Scott Sagan is the Caroline S.G. Munro Professor of Political Science, the Mimi and Peter... Read More
Benjamin A. Valentino
Benjamin A. Valentino is an associate professor of government at Dartmouth College.... Read More
