American views of NATO are becoming increasingly partisan after more than two years of war in Eastern Europe, according to findings released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.
The nonpartisan think tank’s latest survey, which reached 3,600 United States adults from April 1 to April 7, revealed that 58% of respondents have a positive opinion of the military alliance – a drop of 4 percentage points since 2023. A smaller share of Americans than in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, also believe NATO’s influence is getting stronger, dropping from 34% to 23%.
The political divide on the alliance has widened: Only 43% of Republicans and GOP-leaning adults view NATO favorably, which is down from 49% in 2023 and 55% in 2022 following the Russian invasion. Meanwhile, three-quarters of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents hold favorable views of the organization, with little change from the year prior.
The findings come as former President Donald Trump, again a candidate for the White House in 2024, has continued to make controversial comments about NATO and its members’ commitment to spend a minimum of 2% of their gross domestic product on defense, implying the U.S. may not come to the defense of NATO allies under his watch.
At a campaign rally in February, Trump recounted what he said was a conversation with an unnamed “president of a big country,” reporting that he told the leader he “would encourage (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want” and the U.S. would not protect that country if the NATO member “didn’t pay.”
EXPLAINER:
Then in March, the former president said during a British TV interview, “Why should we guard these countries that have a lot of money and the United States was paying for most of NATO?” At the same time, he referred to his prior comments as a negotiating tactic and said the U.S. would “100%” defend NATO allies who meet the spending commitment.
As of mid-2023 – prior to the accession of the latest alliance member, Sweden – only 11 NATO countries at the time were expected to meet the 2% target for the year, based on estimates published by the alliance. In the wake of Trump’s February comments, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he expected 18 NATO allies to hit the 2% target this year.
MORE:
The Pew survey also found Americans have conflicting views about allies’ defense spending. Close to half of respondents (47%) said European allies should increase their spending on national defense, while 18% said it should stay the same and just over a quarter (26%) weren’t sure. Those who lean toward or belong to the Republican Party (58%) were far more likely than Democrats or Democratic leaners (42%) to say Europeans should increase their defense spending, according to Pew, which noted that the survey had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.
NATO itself was not the only topic found to be polarizing in the survey’s results. Americans additionally have complicated views tied to the Russia-Ukraine war and how much the U.S. should be contributing to help Ukraine defend itself.
EXPLAINER:
Overall, about a third of those surveyed (31%) said the U.S. is providing too much support to Ukraine, marking an increase of 24 percentage points from March 2022. Republicans are even more down on aid to Ukraine: Almost half (49%) of right-leaning respondents said the U.S. is providing too much assistance, compared with 16% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. In March 2022, almost half of Republicans and Republican leaners said America was not supporting Ukraine enough.
Notably, the survey was fielded before Congress approved a foreign aid package in April that contained some $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine.
American confidence in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has decreased as well. From 2023 to 2024, those surveyed who said they have some or a lot of confidence in the president to do the right thing in world affairs fell from 56% to 48%. Among Republicans and Republican leaners, 55% lack much confidence in Zelenskyy. Almost two-thirds (65%) of Democrats or those who lean to the Democratic Party have at least some confidence in the Ukrainian leader, but that share dropped from 71% in 2023.
READ:
One area of opinion that hasn’t shifted much is Americans’ favorability – or lack thereof – toward Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was just inaugurated for a fifth term in office.
Almost 9 in 10 respondents (88%) said they lacked confidence in the Russian leader to do the right thing when it comes to global affairs, and partisan gaps were “relatively small” on this topic, according to Pew. In 2023, 90% of those surveyed lacked confidence in Putin.
Survey: U.S. Views of NATO Are Polarized
49
0
09.05.2024
American views of NATO are becoming increasingly partisan after more than two years of war in Eastern Europe, according to findings released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.
The nonpartisan think tank’s latest survey, which reached 3,600 United States adults from April 1 to April 7, revealed that 58% of respondents have a positive opinion of the military alliance – a drop of 4 percentage points since 2023. A smaller share of Americans than in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, also believe NATO’s influence is getting stronger, dropping from 34% to 23%.
The political divide on the alliance has widened: Only 43% of Republicans and GOP-leaning adults view NATO favorably, which is down from 49% in 2023 and 55% in 2022 following the Russian invasion. Meanwhile, three-quarters of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents hold favorable views of the organization, with little change from the year prior.
The findings come as former President Donald Trump, again a candidate for the White House in 2024, has continued to make controversial comments about NATO and its members’ commitment to spend a minimum of 2% of their gross domestic product on........
© U.S.News
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Rami G Khouri
Mort Laitner
Rachel Marsden
Donald Low
Bradley Blankenship
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
Abbas Juma
Michael Kwet
