March 22 (UPI) -- Most Americans view cyberterrorism as the most critical threat to the United States, a new poll from Gallup says.
Gallup's poll on world affairs measured how important respondents perceive 11 potential threats to the country. Cyberterrorism overwhelmingly outpaced the other topics, with 85% of respondents calling it a "critical threat."
Responses to cyberterrorism were consistent across political party lines, with 86% of both Democrats and Republicans calling it a critical threat. About 79% of Independents answered this way.
"Americans continue to cite cyberterrorism as the leading critical threat to U.S. vital security interests, as they have since 2021," Mohamad Younis of Gallup wrote. "Before that, international terrorism and the development of nuclear weapons by Iran and North Korea ranked highest. But concern about each of these has ebbed over the past decade."
The Department of Defense shares in the concerns about cyberterrorism. In a 2022 report, the department said that while state actors like China and Russia are commonly considered the most likely adversaries in cyber warfare, independent criminal organizations also pose a significant threat.
"I think we've seen over time with the development of the non-state actor -- the criminal cyber market -- is that capabilities that were once reserved for state actors are available on the dark web for purchase," Mieke Eoyang, deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, told DOD News.
Respondents almost evenly reported that North Korea and Iran developing nuclear weapons was the second most critical threat, followed by international terrorism. Iran ranked higher by a percentage point at 74%. The nuclear capabilities of North Korea and Iran have remained high on the list of threats, though Gallup notes that this year's marks fall nearly 10% short of their record-high responses in past years.
The topics that saw the most dramatic changes in this year's survey were the military power of China, immigration and climate change. Political biases showed in how people responded to these topics, with Republicans more likely to see China and immigration as a critical threat and Democrats perceiving climate change as a greater threat.
Immigration and climate change had the deepest disparity between political parties. Eighty-four percent of Republican respondents said immigration was a critical threat compared to 20% of Democrats. Conversely, 85% of Democrats said the same about climate change compared to 21% of Republicans.