NATO support steady in new Gallup poll

Americans’ support for NATO has remained steady over the past two years, with a majority of respondents still saying they want to see the U.S. either increase or maintain its commitment to the defense alliance, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday.

The share of Americans who want the U.S. to maintain its “commitment to NATO” held at 47 percent in the Gallup poll conducted this month. That support is unchanged from a survey conducted in February 2022 just before Russia’s broad invasion of Ukraine.

Those who say U.S. support for NATO should increase ticked up slightly, from 18 percent in 2022 to 20 percent in 2024, while anti-NATO sentiment has gone down slightly over the last two years.

In 2024, 28 percent of respondents said they either want to decrease the U.S. commitment to NATO (16 percent) or withdraw entirely (12 percent). Those numbers were slightly higher two years ago, when 31 percent said they wanted either to decrease NATO commitment (18 percent) or withdraw entirely (13 percent).

Support for NATO remains strong, even amid concerns about Americans growing weary of passing more U.S. aid for Ukraine, which has been stalled in Congress for months with opposition primarily from House Republicans.

Many Western officials have warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not stop at Ukraine’s invasion and that he might set his eyes on other eastern European countries next, leaving NATO members on guard.

Former President Trump, the current Republican presidential front-runner, has been critical of NATO — both throughout his time in office, when he threatened to pull out of the alliances, and more recently, when he suggested he would encourage Putin to do “whatever the hell” he wanted to countries that did not meet their defense spending target levels. Those remarks drew broad criticism from lawmakers and the White House.

The survey released Thursday shows support for NATO among the American public remains high — across both parties.

A slim majority of Republicans surveyed, 53 percent, said they either want to increase (7 percent) or maintain (46 percent) the U.S. commitment to NATO. In the past two years, those who want to maintain the commitment increased by 9 points, from 37 percent to 46 percent. Those who want to withdraw completely decreased by 6 points, from 22 percent in 2022 to 16 percent.

Independents who want to increase the U.S. commitment has grown by 8 points, from 16 percent in 2022 to 24 percent this month. A similar decline of 8 points is reflected in those who want to maintain the commitment, from 51 percent in 2022 to 43 percent today.

There has been little change in support among Democrats; 27 percent of Democrats said they want to increase the U.S. commitment to NATO, just 1 point lower than 2022; and 9 percent said they want the U.S. to lower its commitment to NATO, an increase of 2 points from 2022.

The most recent survey was conducted Feb. 1-20 via telephone among 1,016 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.