World War III news continues to dominate search engines, and now, a new poll has shown that Western nations tend to agree that a “worldwide conflict” is imminent. With the ongoing conflict in Syria, ISIS waging war in the Middle East, and recent terrorist attacks around the world, such as the one at the Christmas market in Germany, people living in the West have growing concerns and are starting to fear for their safety.
The Independent has reported that a YouGov survey has been conducted in nine countries with 9,000 participants, and this poll indicates that most people are very concerned by the threat of another global war.
The YouGov poll showed that citizens in the United States were most likely to believe that World War III was looming, and the British, German, and French people were also similarly pessimistic. Out of the Americans who were surveyed, 64 percent believe that a global war was coming while a mere 15 percent believed that peace was possible. The survey showed that the British felt much the same, with 61 percent believing World War III may be close and just 19 percent thinking global peace was attainable.
However, World War III news wasn’t as high on the list of worries for those in Nordic countries like Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Citizens of Denmark, for instance, choose to believe that peace is very likely with 39 percent of Danes believing that peace is just around the corner, and 45 percent worried about World War III.
YouGov’s director of political and social research, Anthony Wells, noted that fear of World War III and a global conflict seemed to worry the French and Americans the most, and perhaps one of the reasons for this was that Americans were concerned with President-elect Donald Trump getting ready to step into the White House.
“Fear seems the highest in the US and France, but for different reasons. American fears perhaps reflect some people’s uncertainly about the impending Trump Presidency.”
Only 1 week to go until #TrumpInaugural
Only 4 years & 1 week to go of worrying about World War 3
Thanks, America https://t.co/1QbiYCJ8Bf
— Damon (@damocrat) January 13, 2017
Wells remarked that the French were less concerned with the Russian government than Americans, for instance, but that they were more worried about terrorism in general and the threat of World War III in the news.
“For France, I suspect fears are linked more to the threat of terrorism. The French public were the least likely to see Russia as a hostile threat to the EU, but by far the most likely to think that there would be another major terrorist attack on their country in the year ahead.”
In the same survey, it was found that the British are the most concerned with Russia, with 71 percent of those polled saying that they felt threatened, although the United States and Europe did view Russia as a “military threat,” with 59 percent of Americans worried about Russia. Other countries which are located closer to Russia, such as Germany and Finland, were much less concerned by Russia.
Showing that most of the Western world is extremely concerned with World War III reaching the news sooner rather than later, every country polled besides Finland believed that a terrorist attack was extremely likely over the next year, with a much smaller percentage believing that a terrorist attack was very unlikely.
Out of all the countries that were polled, France was the most concerned with the growing threat of terrorism and 81 percent of the French that were surveyed believed that a terrorist attack was likely to occur. But France were not alone in their concerns as Americans, the British, and Germans were all largely worried about terrorist attacks in their respective countries. Once again, only Finland remained different with only 26 percent believing that a terrorist attack would happen in their country.
Are you worried about further global conflict happening where you live? Do you believe that World War III is more or less likely when you read the news and why?
[Featured Image by National Archives/Getty Images]
