What Americans Think of the U.S.-South Korea Alliance Before the Midterms

The 2026 Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI) survey, conducted with YouGov, finds that American support for U.S. alliances, and for the alliance with South Korea in particular, has held strong through a year of significant change in U.S. foreign policy. Three-quarters of Americans believe alliances benefit the United States, and Republicans have grown more likely to say so. Seven in ten Democrats and Republicans alike think the U.S.-South Korea alliance serves U.S. national security.

Opinion has shifted on threats and trade. Fewer Americans perceive China, North Korea, and Russia as critical threats than a year ago, while more view Iran as one. Trade is becoming a partisan dividing line, as Democrats and Independents increasingly favor lower tariffs and fewer Republicans do. On North Korea, Americans back diplomacy while holding firm on denuclearization.

The 2026 KEI survey, fielded with YouGov from August 21 to September 1, 2026, among 1,207 U.S. adults, is the seventh such survey KEI has run annually since 2020. It tracks American views of the world, U.S. alliances and adversaries, South Korea, trade and foreign investment, and Korean security issues. The report covers each topic in turn, comparing 2026 results with earlier years and noting where they diverge, across self-identified Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

American Support for Alliances Remains Strong

Views of alliances held steady overall, with Republicans growing more positive over the past year.

• Three-quarters of Americans (75 percent) believe U.S. alliances either mostly benefit the United States (19 percent) or benefit both the United States and its allies (56 percent).
• Among Republicans, that share rose from 63 percent in 2025 to 73 percent in 2026, and the share viewing alliances as mostly benefiting the United States doubled, from 9 percent to 18 percent.

Perceived threats moved in two directions.

• The share of Americans who perceive China as a critical threat fell from 48 percent in 2025 to 37 percent in 2026, with the steepest drop among Republicans (from 65 percent to 48 percent). North Korea fell from 37 percent to 30 percent, and Russia from 54 percent to 41 percent. 
• Iran was the only country to rise, from 34 percent to 41 percent, tying Russia as the top perceived threat.
• Virtually no one considers Cuba a critical threat (3 percent). Cuba was not included in the 2025 survey.

Support for South Korea and the Alliance Holds

Support for the U.S.-South Korea alliance remains high across party lines. Majorities believe the alliance serves U.S. national security, support maintaining troops in South Korea, and favor defending South Korea if North Korea invades.

• Two-thirds of Americans (68 percent) hold favorable views of South Korea, largely unchanged since the question was first asked in 2020.
• Two-thirds (64 percent) think the U.S.-South Korea alliance is in the national security interests of the United States. There was virtually no partisan gap, with 71 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of Republicans in agreement.
• If North Korea were to invade, 71 percent would favor using U.S. troops to defend South Korea.
• A majority (58 percent) supports South Korea’s development of nuclear-powered submarines, including 56 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans.
• Seven in ten (71 percent) oppose South Korea developing a nuclear weapon.
• Food draws the most interest among South Korean cultural exports (41 percent), nearly double beauty products (21 percent). A plurality (43 percent) of Americans are interested in none of the eight items in the survey, including a majority of Republicans (52 percent) and a third of Democrats (33 percent).

Views on Trade Shift Along Party Lines

More Americans want to expand trade with the world, but fewer want more trade with major partners, including South Korea, Canada, Mexico, and Japan. Support for lower tariffs has grown among Democrats and Independents, while fewer Republicans support lowering them, especially on China. Americans have cooled on foreign investment in general, though perceptions of South Korean investment remain stable and positive.

• A third of Americans (30 percent) believe trade with the world should increase, up nine percentage points from 2025. Support for more trade with South Korea fell four percentage points, to 22 percent.
• More than a third (37 percent) think that imports from the rest of the world should face lower tariffs. Support for lower tariffs against South Korea grew by five percentage points year-over-year, to 38 percent.
• Views on tariffs are increasingly partisan. While fewer Republicans believe tariffs should be lower, more than half of Democrats (55 percent) think tariffs on trade with the world should be lowered, up seventeen percentage points. Support for lower tariffs on South Korean goods grew by ten percentage points to 55 percent among Democrats.
• Six in ten (60 percent) say South Korean investment benefits the U.S. economy, compared with 49 percent for foreign investment in general, down from 56 percent in 2025. The share who say foreign investment creates U.S. jobs fell from 54 percent to 43 percent.

Americans Back Engagement With North Korea

Americans hold strongly unfavorable views of North Korea but are open to engagement. A narrow majority supports a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while nearly nine in ten think it is important that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons. Americans divide almost evenly on arms control, and broad majorities favor pressing North Korea to improve its human rights record and providing humanitarian assistance to its civilians.

• Nearly seven in ten Americans (68 percent) hold unfavorable views of North Korea, including 50 percent who hold very unfavorable views.
• While 18 percent support a Trump-Kim meeting with no preconditions, 16 percent support a meeting if North Korea first agrees to halt missile tests, and another 20 percent favor a meeting if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons. Just 17 percent say the two should not meet under any conditions.
• Nearly nine in ten Americans (87 percent) believe it is important that North Korea give up its nuclear capabilities.
• Americans are divided on an arms control agreement, with 53 percent in favor and 47 percent opposed.
• Broad majorities support pushing for human rights improvements in North Korea (82 percent) and providing humanitarian assistance to North Korean civilians (72 percent).

Karl Friedhoff is an independent researcher. Nils Wollesen Osterberg is Fellow and Economic Policy Associate at the Korea Economic Institute of America. Angela Lee is Economic Research Intern at the Korea Economic Institute of America. All views are the authors’ alone.

This material is distributed by KEI on behalf of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.