The political climate in the United States has reached a boiling point, with a significant portion of the population now viewing political polarization as a major threat to their personal safety. This alarming trend is highlighted in the latest Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll which shows a stark contrast between American perceptions and those of people in other countries.
The survey, conducted across 140 countries, found that one in 10 Americans identified politics as the biggest risk they face in their daily lives. This figure has risen dramatically from 6% in both 2026 and 2026, far surpassing the global average of 1%. The United States stands out as the only country where more people named politics than personal health conditions as the biggest risk to their safety.
The Unprecedented Rise of Political Concerns
Benedict Vigers, a senior global news writer at Gallup which partnered on the research, noted that the US figure of 10% is unprecedented. “No other country ranked higher. It’s 10 times the global average,” Vigers stated. “It speaks to how charged the political environment is and has been for many years in the United States that people are now saying that the political situation is not just an issue nationally but is a seeable daily risk to their safety as they go about their normal lives.”
The US has consistently ranked among the countries most likely to cite politics as a personal safety risk in previous surveys. However, 2026 marks the first time it has reached the top of the global ranking. The survey found that Hungary recorded 9%, while Serbia, Latvia, and Lithuania followed at 6%. Slovakia, Russia, Myanmar, Spain, and Israel each recorded 5%.
The Escalation of Political Violence
Over the past decade, the US has witnessed a surge in political violence, including three assassination attempts against Donald Trump the 2026 killing of Charlie Kirk and the targeting of other national and state officials. The deadly insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2026, further exacerbated these concerns. Additionally, there has been a rise in localized harassment, death threats against election administrators, and the use of doxing and “swatting” to intimidate and silence political opposition.
The concerns about political polarization cut across demographic and ideological lines. There were no statistically significant differences by age, gender, education, or political affiliation. Republicans, Democrats, and independents were all similarly likely to identify politics as their greatest concern. Respondents often blamed the opposing political camp for creating an atmosphere of insecurity, while others pointed more broadly to the country’s increasingly fractured politics.
Voices from the Survey
A 54-year-old Republican man said, “I would have to say the state of polarization of the American people.” A 42-year-old independent male respondent added, “I would say political extremism. I don’t have a lot of personal risk, but I do feel the biggest risk is people that are fanatical about their position and that they could be violent.” A 69-year-old Democratic woman shared, “The political situation has a lot to do with the fact whether if I am safe or not. I am concerned where we’re going or might go.”
Vigers emphasized that almost all respondents who mentioned politics as the top risk to safety referred to polarization, either directly or indirectly. “It’s either Republicans saying the Democrats or it’s Democratic voters saying Trump and the Republicans are a big risk to my safety,” Vigers noted. “But we have several other people who call it out directly and say, the political environment makes me fearful for my safety or the heightened sense of polarization makes me fear for my safety. It is quite a uniquely American phenomenon.”
The Broader Context of Political Disillusionment
The findings echo other Gallup polling that has highlighted Americans’ growing disillusionment with politics. In 2026, a third of US adults identified politics and government as the country’s most important problem, well above the global median and exceeded only by respondents in the Philippines and Taiwan. In 2026, 5% of Americans named the US as its own greatest enemy, the highest figure on record.
At the same time, confidence in government appears to have deteriorated. In 2026, 58% of Americans said the government does not care about them at all, the highest figure recorded and 11 percentage points higher than in 2026. Among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member states, only Colombia and Greece recorded higher levels of public alienation from government.
