United Nations Seen as Necessary but Ineffective by Americans

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans remain broadly supportive of the United Nations as an institution, with solid majorities calling it necessary as well as favoring U.S. involvement and funding, although that support is down slightly from recent measures. At the same time, only about one in three — on the lower end of the trend dating back to 1953 — think the U.N. is doing a good job of solving the problems it has had to face.

Six in 10 Say U.N. Plays Necessary Role

Sixty percent of U.S. adults believe the U.N. plays a necessary role in the world today, while 38% disagree. Although still a solid majority, a slightly smaller share of Americans consider the U.N. necessary today than in Gallup polls between 2005 and 2019, when roughly two-thirds held this view.

Support for the U.N. was much higher, at 85%, in a 1997 poll taken after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution condemning Iraq for expelling agreed-upon weapons inspectors following the 1991 Gulf War.

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When asked more specifically about what type of role the U.N. should have in world affairs, 19% of Americans say it should play a leading role, where nations are required to follow U.N. policies, and 42% a major role, where the U.N. establishes policies but countries could choose to act on their own. One-third favor a minor U.N. role, where it mainly serves as a forum for communication between nations and not developing policies.

Between 2001 and 2008, larger shares of Americans, generally in the high 60% range, favored a leading or major role for the U.N.

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Americans Favor U.S. Maintaining U.N. Funding, Membership

Most Americans want the U.S. to either maintain (35%) or increase (25%) its funding of the U.N. as opposed to decreasing it (37%). The percentage favoring funding cuts is unchanged compared with the last time the question was asked in 2003. However, more today believe U.N. funding should be increased (25%, up from 11%), while fewer want it kept the same (35%, down from 50%).

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A small minority of Americans, 17%, go as far as to say the U.S. should give up its membership to the U.N. However, that ties the 1996 measure as the highest in Gallup’s trend, which has been asked periodically since 1951.

Seventy-nine percent of U.S. adults currently believe the U.S. should remain a member.

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Americans Still Critical of U.N. Job Performance

By a nearly 2-to-1 margin, Americans say the U.N. is doing a poor (63%) rather than good (32%) job of trying to solve the problems it has had to face. Some of the chief complaints about the U.N., gathered in a follow-up open-ended question, are that it does not take enough action, should be doing more to end wars or conflicts, is ineffective, and has no real power.

While the current 32% who say the U.N. is doing a good job is not the all-time low, it is near the lower end of the trend. The low point was registered in a 2009 survey, when 26% of Americans thought the international organization was doing a good job while the U.S. was still involved in extended wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and mired in a global economic recession.

Low ratings of U.N. job performance are not unusual; less than half of Americans have said it was doing a good job in every reading since March 2003. There have been only six readings above 50% in Gallup’s trend, including in the initial 1953 poll, as well as in 1990, 1993, and 2000 through 2002.

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Democrats More Positive Toward U.N.; Republicans More Critical

Americans’ views of the United Nations vary primarily according to political party identification, with few other demographic subgroups showing differences not tied to partisanship. Democrats tend to hold positive views of the U.N., except that they are currently evenly divided on how it is handling its job. Republicans are generally negative toward the U.N., with 75% saying it is doing a poor job, 59% thinking it does not play a necessary role in the world today and 70% believing the U.S. should decrease its funding of the U.N. More than one in three Republicans, 36%, say the U.S. should give up its membership to the U.N., but 63% of Republicans disagree.

Independents are nearly as critical of the U.N.’s job performance as Republicans are — 30% think it is doing a good job and 65% a poor job. However, about six in 10 independents believe the U.N. plays a necessary role in the world today, that it should have a leading or major role in world affairs, and that its funding from the U.S. should be increased or kept where it is.

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Among the more notable changes in partisans’ views since Gallup last asked these questions:

• Republicans are much more likely today (70%) than in 2003 (46%) to want to see U.S. funding of the U.N. decreased. In contrast, Democrats are nearly three times as likely now (52%) as in 2003 (19%) to want U.N. funding increased. The shifting attitudes may be a response to President Donald Trump’s calls to cut U.S. funding for the U.N.
• Nearly twice as many Republicans today (36%) as in 2005 (19%) believe the U.S. should give up its U.N. membership. Democrats’ and independents’ opinions about U.S. participation have not changed meaningfully in the past two decades.
• All party groups are less likely than in 2019 to view the U.N. as playing a necessary role, with declines of 16 percentage points among Democrats, nine among Republicans and five among independents.

Bottom Line

Americans don’t believe the United Nations is doing a good job, but mostly continue to support its mission and existence, albeit at slightly lower levels than in the past. While Republicans tend to hold the U.N. in lower regard than Democrats and independents do, most still want the U.S. to remain a U.N. member nation.

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Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works. View complete question responses and trends (PDF download).

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