RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Politicians, political pundits and folks sitting around the kitchen table often talk about the impact that Russia and China have on our country. According to two High Point University surveys, Generation Z, people 18 to 29 years old, are pretty even with most adults when it comes to their view of Russia as a threat.
But then the difference starts to show. Far more adults, overall, see China as a bigger threat than Russia. Where are some of the Gen Z worries going? North Korea.
28% of Gen Z respondents saw Russia, rather than China (23%), as the single biggest threat to U.S. national security. 36% of U.S. adults see China rather than Russia (29%) as the single biggest national security threat. 19% of Gen Z respondents say North Korea is the single greatest threat, only about one in ten of the all-adults sampled agreed.
Professsor Martin Kifer is the director the HPU Survey Research Center. Kifer said Gen Z also has a very different view of whether Russia is an adversary.
“Only about 28% of them said they saw Russia as an adversary, but 44% of the general public, said the same thing. And so to us, that was a remarkable, finding younger people are just thinking differently about the world out there,” said Kifer.
Older adults have memories of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear annihilation. While not part of the poll’s questioning, that generation gap may have an influence on perceptions.
“Gen Z doesn’t have that set of memories. They have things that they may have learned at school or picked up in other ways and so it makes sense that the way that older people kind of construct Russia as a threat is different than Gen Z,” Kifer said.
At 57 versus 65% most adults also have a more pessimistic view of how world events may impact the safety of the US.
But they are very close to their impression of President Biden’s handling of the Ukraine/Russia war.
“The big takeaway here is that it’s not the case that Gen. Z or any particular generation is different or is very different than the rest of us. We find remarkable consistencies, but then we also can find these issues in these areas, these attitudes, whereas a group Gen. Z appears to be distinct from the rest of us,” said Kifer.
HPU surveyed people nationwide. The results were in line with similar polls that focused only on North Carolina residents.
Russ Bowen
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