Do Americans support NATO? New poll reveals views in US just before Russian invasion

As Russia continues its invasion into Ukraine, a new polls finds Americans are split on their perception of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, an alliance of 28 European nations and Canada and the U.S.

According to a Gallup poll conducted between Feb. 1 and Feb. 17, a week before Russia launched its full-scale invasion, almost half of Americans — 45% — said NATO was doing a poor job at “trying to solve the problems it has had to face.”

Forty-eight percent of Americans said NATO was doing a good job.

Democrats and Republicans diverge on their opinions on the alliance. While seven in 10 Democrats say NATO was doing a good job at trying to resolve problems, only 27% of Republicans said the same.

Sixty-five percent of Americans said the U.S. should “increase commitment” to NATO or “keep commitment what is now.”

In the weeks leading up to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine, about 52% Americans saw the tensions between the two countries as a “critical threat to U.S vital interests,” the poll shows.

Americans’ perception of Russia has deteriorated since 2012 – the poll shows 85% of Americans now view the country in a negative light.

Meanwhile, 62% of Americans said they have a positive view of Ukraine. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points

Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on three fronts early Thursday, Feb. 24, “bombarding cities, towns and villages” as forces advanced toward the capital of Kyiv.

“President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” President Joe Biden said in a statement announcing additional sanctions against Russia.

President Putin has argued that his military forces are protecting citizens in eastern Ukraine who want to rejoin Russia, BBC News reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Biden have rejected those claims.

While Ukraine is not a member of NATO, the alliance says it stands ready to assist in what it calls “Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked attack on Ukraine.”

As McClatchy News previously reported, the United States, Canada and other European countries who are members of NATO are unlikely to involve their own military forces unless Russia launches a direct attack on one of the NATO members.

Under their pact, NATO members agree that an armed attack against one member in Europe or North America will be considered an attack against them all. They agree that each of them will assist the parties attacked by taking any action deemed necessary, including the use of armed force.

Russia’s strategy has been to foment conflicts in countries that might join NATO to make that process more difficult, sources told McClatchy News, like what is happening in Ukraine right now.

“We are not putting down arms,” Zelenskyy said Saturday, Feb. 26. “We will be defending our country, because our weapon is truth, and our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this.”

Ukrainian forces are putting up a “very determined resistance,” particularly in Kyiv, which is under heavy Russian attack by artillery and cruise missiles, Reuters reported.

Ukraine, the second-largest nation in Europe by land mass, was part of the former USSR until it declared independence in 1991.

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