What do Americans think about the rest of the world?

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That’s not some kind of philosophical riddle. It’s an actual question, and—thanks to a 2017 survey—we’ve got some answers. A poll by YouGov asked U.S. adults to label countries as allies, friends, unfriendly, enemies, or… well, “not sure.” Pretty simple. Then, Reddit user anonymous-t- took that data and made a world map out of it.

Now, some of the answers? Totally predictable. Canada and the UK? Of course they’re seen as allies—no surprises there. Australia, Japan, Germany, South Korea? Same story. Familiar names, steady partnerships. People like what they know.

But then we get to Russia and China. Neither got the “enemy” stamp, interestingly enough. They were marked “unfriendly,” which feels like a polite way of saying, “We don’t trust you, but we’re not ready to fight about it.” Iran, though? That one landed squarely in the enemy box. No sugarcoating. Too much baggage—years of bad headlines will do that.

Then there are all those yellow spots on the map. Central Asia, big parts of Africa—places many respondents just weren’t sure about. That doesn’t mean those regions don’t matter. But if people don’t hear much about them on the news, they might not form strong opinions one way or another.

What’s wild is how a map like this doesn’t show geography so much as familiarity. It’s not about who’s closest. It’s about who’s in the headlines, who makes the news, who shows up in movies or policy speeches. That shapes how people feel. And those feelings? They can lead to real consequences. Military action, foreign aid, immigration policies—they don’t just come out of nowhere. Public opinion is part of the mix.

And remember—opinions shift. Today’s ally might be tomorrow’s frenemy. What matters is how quickly these mental maps can change. A single event, a change in leadership, a big cultural moment—that’s all it takes.

So, what does this map really show? Maybe not just what Americans think of other countries. Maybe it’s more about what stories they’ve been told.