World War III is Americans' new top apocalyptic worry

The Ipsos Consumer Tracker asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.

Why we asked: For the third year, we’ve asked what we affectionately call the zombie apocalypse question. The genesis was a client prompt three years ago: They’d done some qualitative work and noted that everyone was freaked out about something, but it was often different things.

What we found: Our data holds that up as now a persistent trend. While those who worry about “none of these” holds more or less steady at about 1 in 10, the options given are somewhat distributed.

We have a somewhat remarkable caveat in this year’s running. Shortly before going into field, President Trump threated to end an entire civilization. The deadline for that came and went while we were in field, as a temporary ceasefire was announced.

So, it’s perhaps not surprising that the biggest change from the previous wave was a 5-point jump in those fearing World War III, and an equal jump in those fearing total economic collapse in the U.S. (putting those fears No. 2 and 1, respectively). Closely following that is a collapse of the U.S. democracy, which fell 8 points and dropped from the top worry to the third.

Killer robots remain a dark horse, with only 2% saying it’s their chief worry. That’s maybe a little surprising given, that AI has advanced and so has robotics, and drone warfare is a thing now. But I guess we have more pressing concerns.

Now, in isolation, this might seem a little frivolous. But if you put it in context with the Vibe Check, and a lot of our economic attitudes, it’s more evidence of the baseline noise humming in the back of many — or even most — Americans’ heads. Is it uncertainty? Certainly. Does it rise to catastrophizing? Maybe in some cases.

One does have to wonder about the psychic damage it inflicts over time. Or is this just how things have always been? Cold War? Great Depression? The disco era? Maybe things are always not so great.

Regardless, as Americans look to -maxx health, looks, travel/weekends, China and more, it’s worth also spending some time thinking about some things we could also minimize, like our exposure to dread and uncertainty. Just sayin’.