An Army soldier fires at targets during an exercise in Postojna, Slovenia, Feb. 29, 2024. Americans remain largely supportive of NATO, as 67% of respondents in a new Gallup poll said they want to see the country either maintain or increase its level of commitment to the U.S.-led alliance. (Paolo Bovo/Army)
American public support for NATO remains steady, with two-thirds of participants in a new poll saying they would like to see the country maintain or increase its support for the U.S.-led alliance, and fewer Republicans backing a complete withdrawal.
The results indicate that two years of war in Ukraine and recent disparaging remarks about NATO by former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, haven’t dented the alliance’s image among Americans.
Released Thursday, the Gallup poll found that 47% of respondents would like to see the U.S. maintain its level of commitment to the bloc and that 20% support an increase.
Meanwhile, 16% of Americans would like to see the U.S. decrease its commitment to NATO, and 12% support a withdrawal from the alliance, according to the findings.
The poll, which has a margin of error of 4 percentage points, was based on phone interviews with 1,016 adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The share of Americans who would like the U.S. to maintain its commitment was unchanged since Gallup’s last poll on the issue in February 2022, just before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The portion advocating more support jumped 2 percentage points since the last survey, while anti-NATO sentiment has reduced slightly.
Among Republicans, 46% of those polled would like the U.S. to maintain its current level of commitment to NATO, up from 37% two years ago, while 7% would like to see it increase. The 16% favoring withdrawal from the bloc represents a decrease of 6 percentage points since 2022.
Changes among Democrats were minimal, with 80% backing the current level of support or an increase. Among independents, the level of overall support was nearly 70%.
The share of independents who want to increase the U.S. commitment grew from 16% to 24% over the two years. In the same time frame, support among independents for keeping the commitment level as is dropped from 51% to 43%.
Over the past two years, Western leaders have expressed concern over the possibility of the Russia-Ukraine war spilling over into NATO territory. Under Article 5 of the organization’s charter, an attack on one member is considered an attack on all of them.
But Trump, a frequent NATO critic, said in a campaign speech during the polling period that if reelected, he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries that don’t spend 2% of their annual gross domestic product on defense.
His remarks drew pushback from some Republicans and former military leaders, who criticized Trump for casting doubt on the U.S. commitment to defending its NATO allies.
Americans’ opinions of NATO were similar in interviews collected before and after Trump’s comments, Gallup said.
A separate poll found that most Americans continue to support U.S. assistance to Ukraine and favor NATO admission for Ukraine.
It was conducted by Ipsos and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and was released Wednesday.
However, Republican opposition in Congress and among the public for continued assistance to Ukraine has started to chip away at the overall public support, according to the findings.
Overall, nearly six in 10 Americans, 58%, professed support for sending additional arms and military supplies to Ukraine, down from 63% in September 2023, and 79% in March 2022.
Most Democrats, 75%, and independents, 54%, continue to support providing military aid to Ukraine, which 53% of Republicans oppose, according to the poll.
Meanwhile, nearly 70% of those polled, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents, said the U.S. should support Ukraine’s admission to NATO.
