Public opinion of NATO is improving in the US, poll finds – Los Angeles Times

Before taking office, President Trump repeatedly questioned the utility of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, calling the military alliance that has been a bedrock of Western security since 1949 obsolete.

Trump, who plans to attend his first NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday, has since voiced strong support for the security pact, and public opinion of it here in the United States has also improved, according to a poll released Tuesday.

More than 60% of Americans surveyed hold a favorable view of NATO, up from just over half a year ago, the Washington-based Pew Research Center found. Support is stronger among Democrats than among Republicans, it said.

The Trump administration has continued to assail NATO allies for not spending more of their own money on defense and has also pressed them to do more to fight terrorism. Just five of the 28 members the U.S., Britain, Estonia, Greece and Poland currently meet the alliances target of spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.

Still, most Europeans surveyed appear confident that the U.S. would honor its commitments under the NATO charter, which states that an attack against one member should be viewed as an attack against all. A median of 66% of those interviewed in seven European nations said they believed the U.S. would come to the defense of a NATO member if it were involved in a serious military conflict with Russia.

Asked about their own countrys obligations in such an event, more than half of respondents in the Netherlands (72%), Poland (62%), Canada (58%) and France (53%) said they believed their government should fulfill its commitment to mutual defense. But in Germany, which has the fourth largest defense budget in NATO, just 40% of respondents said they would back such assistance, Pew said.

The findings are based on interviews with 9,761 people in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Britain that were carried out between Feb. 16 and April 10.

Go here to read the rest:
Public opinion of NATO is improving in the US, poll finds - Los Angeles Times