These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
Only 49% Think U.S. Still Needs to Belong to NATO
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Less than half of U.S. voters still see a need for the United States to belong to NATO, and most question whether America's allies in the long-standing alliance will give their full support in Afghanistan and Libya.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 49% of Likely U.S. Voters believe America still should belong to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, formed in 1949 to counter the Communist Soviet Union. Twenty-seven percent (27%) do not see a need for the United States to still belong to the alliance now that the Soviet Union is gone. Twenty-four percent (24%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here .)
Just 46% hold even a somewhat favorable view of NATO while 37% view the organization unfavorably. Overall attitudes are quite soft as just 7% hold a Very Favorable opinion of the group while 12% express a Very Unfavorable view. Nearly two-thirds (64%) fall somewhere in between.
Sixty-two percent (62%) of Democrats have a favorable view of NATO, while most Republicans (52%) view the alliance unfavorably. Voters not affiliated with either party are almost evenly divided in their assessments.
Only 35% of voters are even somewhat confident that NATO will do all it can to help the United States win in Afghanistan and Libya. Fifty-six percent (56%) do not share that confidence. These findings include nine percent (9%) who are Very Confident NATO will do all it can and 15% who are Not At All Confident of that.
Collectively, these results suggest that skepticism about NATO allies has held steady at least since December 2009 .
Retiring U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was highly critical of the defense commitment of the other NATO allies in his farewell remarks to the group late last week.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on June 12-13, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology.
The United States spends approximately $2,500 per person on defense, while the other NATO nations spend $500 per person. Knowing this, 49% of voters think the United States should remove its troops from Western Europe and let the Europeans defend themselves. Twenty-eight percent (28%) disagree, and another 22% are not sure. What's especially interesting on this point is that the results virtually identical to results those found in January . However, in January, people were not told of the spending disparity between the United States and its NATO allies.
Voters in the president's party feel more strongly than Republicans and unaffiliated voters that there is still a need for the United States to belong to NATO. There is little partisan disagreement, however, when it comes to the United States removing its troops from Western Europe, with all three groups tending to favor such a move.
Most Republicans (68%) and unaffiliated voters (57%) doubt NATO will do all it can to help the United States win in Afghanistan and Libya. Democrats are evenly divided on the question.
The Political Class is a more enthusiastic supporter of NATO, with 77% expressing a favorable view of the alliance. A plurality (47%) of Mainstream voters registers an unfavorable opinion. Similarly, most Political Class voters (66%) are confident NATO will do all it can to help in Afghanistan and Libya, while the majority (67%) of Mainstream voters are not.
Political Class voters also believe much more strongly than those in the Mainstream that the United States should remain in NATO, and 53% oppose the removal of U.S. troops from Europe. Most Mainstream voters (56%), on the other hand, think pulling U.S. troops out of Western Europe is a good idea.
Most Americans are willing to help defend only five other countries militarily if they are attacked, but only three of those countries - Canada, Great Britain and Germany - are members of NATO.
Just 36% of voters now look positively on the Obama administration's handling of the situation in Libya . Only 26% feel the United States should continue its military actions in Libya .
President Obama insists that NATO allies like Great Britain and France are now leading military operations in Libya, with the United States taking a back seat since the early weeks of the campaign. U.S. voters aren't so sure: 38% believe the military operations in Libya are being handled primarily by U.S. allies like England and France, but 32% think the United States is primarily in charge.