A society full of people who just don’t understand really basic things.
On the one hand, Americans lean toward positive assessments of US nuclear policy. A majority believe nuclear weapons are either very or somewhat effective at preventing conflict between the United States and other countries (63 percent). Almost half (46 percent) are at least somewhat confident that the US missile defense system will protect them in the event of a nuclear war. And Americans who say they are familiar with nuclear deterrence (40 percent of the overall sample) overwhelmingly think it has been effective at preventing a nuclear attack on the United States (88 percent of those familiar with deterrence).
On the other hand, just under half the public think nuclear weapons make the United States safer (47 percent). When combined, almost as many say that nuclear weapons don’t make a difference (24 percent) in making the country safer or that they don’t know enough about nuclear weapons to express a view (19 percent). On this question, there are significant differences between age groups, racial groups, and partisan affiliations. Only among Americans over the age of 45 does a majority say that the US nuclear arsenal makes the country safer (55 percent); a plurality of younger Americans say they don’t make a difference. White Americans are more likely than other racial groups to say nuclear weapons make the country safer, largely because Hispanic and African Americans are more likely to say they do not know enough to express a view. And Republicans (61 percent) are more convinced than Democrats (45 percent) that nuclear weapons make the United States safer.
