Russia tops list of Germany’s biggest fears… but US is only 1 point behind

The US, Germany’s closest strategic ally, came surprisingly close to the ‘bogeyman’ Russia in the list of countries that the Germans fear the most, leaving North Korea and others lag behind, a new poll revealed.

Incredibly, as many as 55 percent of Germans believe the US is almost an equal threat to their country as Russia, which scored 56 percent in the latest study by Forsa pollster, Bild reports. Other countries that usually dominate mainstream airwaves trail far behind.

For instance, only 27 percent of Germans feel threatened by North Korea, which until recently was the main source of nuclear weapons-related news. The reclusive state is followed by Turkey (24 percent) and Saudi Arabia (23 percent). China is deemed a threat to only 16 percent of respondents.

The US, Germany’s long-standing NATO ally and main trading partner, mainly intimidates people of middle age, while the polled Germans saying Russia was a danger to international peace included younger respondents aged 18 to 29, as well as those in their 60s.

The poll provides an interesting outline of respondents’ political sympathies. Rightwing voters – with the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party being the sole exception – tend to favor Washington and fear Moscow, while supporters of the left parties express opposite views.

Germans have generally become less supportive of the US, as previous surveys show. In May last year, a poll by ZDF broadcaster found that 82 percent of German citizens deem the US an unreliable partner, with only 14 percent believing it is. The remaining four percent were unsure.

Back in 2017, the United States trailed Russia by four percent in an ARD-Deutschlandtrend survey that examined what country Germans trusted the most. 71 percent said they could not trust Washington while 67 percent said the same of Moscow.

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