Ask People to Name Global Superpowers

Survey respondents think more naturally in terms of specific countries than abstract polarity labels (unipolar/bipolar/multipolar). Pew’s cognitive interviews and split‑form experiment show that including a short definition of “superpower” and permitting named answers (with careful prompting) yields more interpretable data than asking about polarity alone. — How pollsters ask about global power changes reported public views of world order, which in turn shapes media frames and policymakers’ perceived mandate for foreign policy.