Most Americans don’t know which US allies possess nuclear weapons, poll finds

Most Americans do not know which U.S. allies possess nuclear weapons, according to new polling.

In the latest YouGov/Economist survey, less than half of respondents correctly said that the United Kingdom and France — among other friendly nations — currently have nuclear weapons.

But, when it came to America’s adversaries, respondents were more on the mark.

Here is a breakdown of the findings from the poll, which sampled 1,590 U.S. adults June 20-23.

Which countries have nuclear weapons?

Nine countries currently possess atomic weapons, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). They are: the U.S., Russia, China, the U.K., France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel — though Israel has never confirmed the existence of its nuclear arsenal.

Combined, there are a total of 12,331 nuclear-armed warheads in the world, with Russia and the U.S. possessing the lion’s share.

In an effort to determine Americans’ knowledge of nuclear-armed states, the poll gave respondents a list of 12 countries and asked them to select those that, as far as they know, currently have nuclear weapons.

Most respondents got four nations wrong, all of which are allies or close strategic partners of the U.S.

Less than 50% of respondents correctly said that France (37%), India (39%), the U.K. (43%) and Israel (47%) have nuclear weapons.

On the other hand, a majority of respondents correctly said that Russia (78%), China (70%) and North Korea (62%) — all three of which are considered adversarial to the U.S. — possess atomic weapons.

Additionally, most respondents were aware of the nations that do not have nuclear weapons. Less than half of respondents incorrectly said that Germany (23%), Iran (28%), South Korea (20%) and Ukraine (8%) have nuclear weapons.

In the poll — which has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points — a majority of just one demographic, men, correctly listed all nuclear armed states.

More than half of men correctly listed China (85%), France (56%), India (59%), Israel (61%), North Korea (71%), Russia (89%), the U.K. (66%), and the U.S. (89%) as having atomic weapons.

Women were less accurate, with less than half listing France (19%), India (21%), Israel (33%) and the U.K. (22%) as having nuclear weapons.

Conflict in the Middle East

The survey comes after tensions boiled over in the Middle East, leading to a war between Israel and Iran. President Donald Trump got the U.S. military involved in the conflict when he authorized a strike on nuclear sites in Iran on June 21.

On June 24, Trump said he had brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Iran. However, hours later, he expressed frustration with both countries, claiming they had violated the agreement by continuing to launch strikes.

“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the (expletive) they’re doing,” he told reporters before departing for a NATO summit in Europe.

This story was originally published June 24, 2025 at 10:07 AM with the headline "Most Americans don’t know which US allies possess nuclear weapons, poll finds."