I don't think it is fear exactly. More that people favour "strength" and reject "weakness". Nukes are strong, and disarmament is weak. That is the same choic

I don't think it is fear exactly. More that people favour "strength" and reject "weakness". Nukes are strong, and disarmament is weak. That is the same choice people make again and again. The actual sense of the policy is ignored in favour of simplistic rejection of naive liberal weakness (as they see it).