Datastream
Ranked: Top 10 Foreign Policy Concerns of Americans
The Briefing
- Political leanings aside, terrorism remains a top issue of concern for Americans
- Previous top issues, such as disinformation and U.S.–China relations, now rank lower
In the United States, there is a distinct difference on top foreign policy concerns between Democrats and Republicans.
This chart uses data from Morning Consult to assess the top policy concerns of Americans.
The Top Concerns
Overall, the average American is most concerned about terrorism, immigration, and drug trafficking. Interestingly, this list corresponds with the concerns of the average Republican, though falling in a different order.
Meanwhile, Democrats are chiefly worried about climate change, another global pandemic, and terrorism.
Here’s a breakdown of the policy concerns at large and across political parties.
| Overall Rank with Americans | Foreign Policy Concern | Share of Voters Listing it as a Top Concern | Share of Democrats Listing it as a Top Concern | Share of Republicans Listing it as a Top Concern |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Terrorism | 49% | 38% | 62% |
| #2 | Immigration | 43% | 22% | 67% |
| #3 | Drug trafficking | 43% | 30% | 59% |
| #4 | Cyberattacks | 39% | 35% | 40% |
| #5 | Climate change | 38% | 54% | 17% |
| #6 | Preventing a global economic crisis | 32% | 33% | 31% |
| #7 | Securing critical supply chains | 30% | 27% | 34% |
| #8 | Preventing another global pandemic | 30% | 38% | 22% |
| #9 | Russia's invasion of Ukraine | 27% | 33% | 21% |
| #10 | Protecting human rights globally | 25% | 31% | 18% |
| #11 | Preventing disinformation | 24% | 29% | 21% |
| #12 | U.S.-China relations | 24% | 19% | 31% |
| #13 | Iran nuclear deal | 21% | 19% | 24% |
| #14 | Upholding democracy globally | 15% | 22% | 8% |
Notably, the concern around U.S.-China relations ranks considerably low, as does preventing disinformation. Upholding democracy worldwide ranks extremely low with Republicans.
America’s Foreign Policy
Along party lines, the results are not surprising. Democrats skew towards multilateralism and want to engage with foreign bodies and other countries to tackle global issues. Republicans are generally more concerned with what’s happening at home.
Looking at the country as a whole and its relations with other nations, however, Americans lean more towards an America-first focus. According to Morning Consult, 39% of registered voters want to decrease U.S. involvement in other countries’ affairs, whereas 20% want to increase it; 30% want to keep the status quo.
Here’s a closer look at Americans’ desire to get involved in a variety of foreign policy initiatives:
| Issue | Increase Efforts | Decrease Efforts | Neither |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overseas Troop Deployment | 21% | 37% | 30% |
| Trade and Tariffs | 41% | 15% | 29% |
| Involvement with International Organizations | 35% | 21% | 32% |
| Resolution of Military Disputes | 38% | 16% | 33% |
| Resolution of Economic Disputes | 43% | 13% | 31% |
As of October 2022
The U.S. Midterm Elections
With midterm elections underway, America’s foreign policy may not be the most important factor for voters. Pew Research Center found that in these congressional elections, foreign policy only ranked 12th among other key issues considered “very important” by registered voters.
The top five concerns of voters in these midterms are:
- The economy
- The future of democracy within the U.S.
- Education
- Healthcare
- Energy policy
Regardless, the U.S. has a massive impact in foreign affairs and the results of the country’s midterm elections will likely cause a ripple effect globally. If Republicans win the House—which is looking extremely likely—and the Senate, President Biden’s foreign policy initiatives and priorities could be drastically restricted.
Where does this data come from?
Source: Morning Consult
Data notes: This ranking is made using the share of registered U.S. voters who identified the given issue as a top 5 concern for the country. For example, only 30% of registered voters said securing critical supply chains was a top 5 concern which is why it’s #7, whereas 43% said immigration was a top concern, ranking it at #2.
Datastream
Network Overload? Adding Up the Data Produced By Connected Cars
By 2025, connected cars could produce 10 exabytes (exabyte = 1B gigabytes) of data per month, a thousand-fold increase over current volumes.
The Briefing
- Connected cars could be producing up to 10 exabytes of data per month, a thousand-fold increase over current data volumes.
- This has serious implications for policymakers, manufacturers, and local network infrastructure.
Modern connected cars are almost like computers on wheels.
Today’s connected cars come stocked with as many as 200 onboard sensors, tracking everything from engine temperature to seatbelt status. And all those sensors create reams of data, which will increase exponentially as the autonomous driving revolution gathers pace.
With carmakers planning on uploading 50-70% of that data, this has serious implications for policymakers, manufacturers, and local network infrastructure.
In this visualization from our sponsor Global X ETFs, we add up the data produced by connected cars.
Data is a Plural Noun
Just how much data could it possibly be?
There are lots of estimates out there, from as much as 450 TB per day for robotaxis, to as little as 0.383 TB per hour for a minimally connected car. This visualization adds up the outputs from sensors found in a typical connected car of the future, with at least some self-driving capabilities.
The focus is on the kinds of sensors that an automated vehicle might use, because these are the data hogs. Sensors like the one that turns on your check-oil-light probably doesn’t produce that much data. But a 4K camera at 30 frames a second, on the other hand, produces 5.4 TB per hour.
| Sensor | Sensors per Vehicle | Data Produced |
|---|---|---|
| RADAR | 4-6 | 0.1-15 Mbit/s/sensor |
| LiDAR | 1-5 | 20-100 Mbit/s/sensor |
| Camera | 6-12 | 500-3,500 Mbit/s/sensor |
| Ultrasonic | 8-16 | <0.01 Mbit/s/sensor |
| Vehicle Motion, GNSS/GPS, IMU | n/a | <0.1 Mbit/s |
| Total Data | 3-40 Gbit/s/vehicle | |
All together, you could have somewhere between 1.4 TB and 19 TB per hour. Given that U.S. drivers spend 17,600 minutes driving per year, a vehicle could produce between 380 and 5,100 TB every year.
To put that upper range into perspective, the largest commercially available computer storage—the 100 TB SSD Exadrive from Nimbus—would be full in 5 hours. A standard Blu-ray disc (50 GB) would be full in under 2 seconds.
Lag is a Drag
The problem is twofold. In the first place, the internet is better at downloading than uploading. And this makes sense when you think about it. How often are you uploading a video, versus downloading or streaming one?
Average global mobile download speeds were 30.78 MB/s in July 2022, against 8.55 MB/s for uploads. Fixed broadband is much higher of course, but no one is suggesting that you connect really, really long network cables to moving vehicles.
Ultimately, there isn’t enough bandwidth to go around. Consider the types of data traffic that a connected car could produce:
- Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)
- Vehicle-to-grid (V2G)
- Vehicles-to-people (V2P)
- Vehicles-to-infrastructure (V2I)
- Vehicles-to-everything (V2E)
The network just won’t be able to handle it.
Moreover, lag needs to be relatively non-existent for roads to be safe. If a traffic camera detects that another car has run a red light and is about to t-bone you, that message needs to get to you right now, not in a few seconds.
Full to the Gunwales
The second problem is storage. Just where is all this data supposed to go? In 2021, total global data storage capacity was 8 zettabytes (ZB) and is set to double to 16 ZB by 2025.
One study predicted that connected cars could be producing up to 10 exabytes per month, a thousand-fold increase over current data volumes.
At that rate, 8 ZB will be full in 2.2 years, which seems like a long time until you consider that we still need a place to put the rest of our data too.
At the Bleeding Edge
Fortunately, not all of that data needs to be uploaded. As already noted, automakers are only interested in uploading some of that. Also, privacy legislation in some jurisdictions may not allow highly personal data, like a car’s exact location, to be shared with manufacturers.
Uploading could also move to off-peak hours to even out demand on network infrastructure. Plug in your EV at the end of the day to charge, and upload data in the evening, when network traffic is down. This would be good for maintenance logs, but less useful for the kind of real-time data discussed above.
For that, Edge Computing could hold the answer. The Automotive Edge Computing Consortium has a plan for a next generation network based on distributed computing on localized networks. Storage and computing resources stay closer to the data source—the connected car—to improve response times and reduce bandwidth loads.
Invest in the Future of Road Transport
By 2030, 95% of new vehicles sold will be connected vehicles, up from 50% today, and companies are racing to meet the challenge, creating investing opportunities.
Learn more about the Global X Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF (DRIV). It provides exposure to companies involved in the development of autonomous vehicles, EVs, and EV components and materials.
And be sure to read about how experiential technologies like Edge Computing are driving change in road transport in Charting Disruption. This joint report by Global X ETFs and the Wall Street Journal is also available as a downloadable PDF.
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