There remains strong public support for NATO, but many see the USA as an unreliable member of the alliance
With next week seeing a major NATO summit in the Netherlands, a new YouGov poll examines public attitudes to the military alliance.
The results show that most Britons continue to support the UK’s membership of NATO (64%) and a majority likewise have a favourable view of the organisation (59%).
Positivity toward NATO is highest among Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem voters (67-71%), lower among Green voters (59%) and lowest among Reform UK voters (49%).
These figures are largely consistent with previous surveys, although they are down slightly from a peak in 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Do Britons mean it when they say they support collective defence?
As ever, our question on whether Britain should maintain its NATO collective defence obligations are widely supported in principle (68%), but are more questionable when it comes to the specific countries it covers, with willingness to defend NATO allies ranging from 66% for France to 38% for Turkey.
The results of this question are effectively unchanged from previous polling, with one exception: the United States. Our last poll in February found a notable downturn in British willingness to defend the USA in event of attack, dropping from 58% in 2024 (when Joe Biden was still president) to 42%, coming not just after Trump’s return to office but also his public haranguing of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. This change in sentiment was not observed towards any of the other countries we asked about.
Since then, however, these figures have bounced back somewhat, with 48% now saying the UK should be willing to use military force to defend the US, although this still remains noticeably lower than it was under the previous US president, and indeed prior levels reaching back to 2014.
This increased willingness to defend the US coincides with growing confidence in America as a security partner. Most Britons (53%) now say they think it is likely that the US would honour its NATO defence obligations and come to the UK’s aid if it was attacked by Russia, up from 44% earlier in the year.
Nevertheless, only 22% see it as “very likely” the US would live up to the NATO Article 5 pledge – hardly a ringing endorsement for a security guarantee that should be seen as iron clad.
indeed, Britons are notably less confident that the US would step in to defend other NATO allies like Poland (33%) or the Baltic states (25%) – although in both cases this figure is up seven points from February.
What do you think about Britain's membership of NATO, whether the US is a reliable NATO partner, and everything else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
Photo: Getty
