Half of Americans Say Cold War Ahead

A Russian national flag is seen atop of the Grand Kremlin Palace an hour before Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Federal Assembly in the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, March 18, 2014

A new poll shows half of Americans believe the United States is entering another Cold War with Russia.

A Gallup poll released Thursday shows 50 percent of those surveyed believe another Cold War is coming, while 43 percent disagree.

The same pollster found in 1991, at the very end of the Cold War, only 25 percent thought U.S. and Russia would again head down the same path.

Older Americans, those who experienced the Cold War, were much more likely predict the coming of another conflict. Sixty-four percent of those polled aged 65 and older thought so, compared to 36 percent of those between the age of 18 and 29. Most in the younger age group were not alive during the Cold War.

Politics also played a role in how people responded. Fewer than half of Democrats and independents feel we are headed back to the conflict of the super powers, compared with more than two-thirds of Republicans who say the same.

Gallup conducted telephone interviews on March 22-23 of 1,012 Americans, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.