GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- On Friday, George W. Bush concludes a busy week of meetings with foreign leaders by hosting United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the White House. A recent Gallup poll conducted February 1-4 shows that Americans, by a margin of 54% to 38%, believe the UN is doing a good, rather than a poor, job of handling the problems it has faced. An even larger number of Americans envision a substantial role for the UN internationally, as either the leader or a major player in world affairs.
During the mid-1990s, when the UN struggled with the situations in the former Yugoslavia, its image suffered -- falling to a low of 35% in 1995. The organization's image has since made a steady recovery. The current percentage of Americans saying the UN is doing a good job is similar to that of last year, but compared to historical Gallup polls, it is at the high end of the range. The two previous high marks of UN support followed military actions involving broad-based international coalitions -- the Korean War in the 1950s and the Persian Gulf War in the 1990s. The percent crediting the UN with doing a good job was 54% in 1990 and 55% in 1953.
Interestingly, those who say they follow news about foreign policy "very closely" (about 16% of Americans) have a more negative view of the UN's handling of international problems than those who pay less attention to foreign policy news. Only 42% of those who follow news about international affairs very closely say the UN is doing a good job, compared to 56% of those who say they follow international news "somewhat closely" and 58% of those who do not follow international news "closely."
Age and partisanship influence attitudes toward the UN. Younger Americans are more likely to say the UN is doing a good job than are older Americans, and Democrats are more likely to express a positive view than are Republicans. Among those aged 18-29, 60% say the UN is doing a good job, compared to just 46% of those 65 years and older. Sixty-three percent of Democrats say the UN is doing a good job, compared to 52% of independents and 47% of Republicans.
Americans Believe UN Should Play Major, But Not Dominant
Role, in Foreign Policy Making
The poll also shows that Americans want the UN to be heavily
involved in foreign policy, but not necessarily as the pre-eminent
power. Overall, 19% of Americans say the UN should "play a leading
role where all nations are required to follow UN policy," 49% say
the UN should play "a major role where it establishes policies but
other nations who disagree may act independently," and 28% say the
UN should play a "minor role, where it mainly serves as a forum for
communication among nations but with no policy-making role."
Like the UN job performance rating, views on this matter are related to partisanship. Twenty-five percent of Democrats say the UN should play a leading role, while only 14% of Republicans and 19% of independents say this. Additionally, those who think the UN is doing a good job are more likely to endorse the idea of a leading role for the organization than are those who think it is doing a poor job.
Survey Methods
The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,003 adults, 18 years and older, conducted February 1-4, 2001. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
Now thinking about the United Nations,
Do you think the United Nations is doing a good job or a poor job in trying solve the problems it has had to face?
|
Good job |
Poor job |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2001 Feb 1-4 |
54 |
38 |
8 |
|
2000 May 18-21 |
52 |
43 |
5 |
|
1996 Feb 23-25 |
46 |
46 |
8 |
|
1995 Oct 19-22 |
36 |
49 |
15 |
|
1995 Sep 19-22 |
36 |
49 |
15 |
|
1995 Aug 28-30 |
35 |
56 |
9 |
|
1993 Jun 18-21 |
46 |
41 |
14 |
|
1993 Mar 29-31 |
52 |
44 |
5 |
|
1990 Oct 18-21 |
54 |
34 |
12 |
|
1985 Aug 13-15 |
28 |
54 |
18 |
|
1985 Feb 15-18 |
38 |
44 |
18 |
|
1983 Oct 7-10 |
36 |
51 |
13 |
|
1982 Jun 25-28 |
36 |
49 |
15 |
|
1980 Sep 12-15 |
31 |
53 |
16 |
|
1978 Feb 24-27 |
40 |
39 |
21 |
|
1975 Nov 21-24 |
32 |
51 |
16 |
|
1971 Oct 29-Nov 2 |
35 |
43 |
22 |
|
1970 Aug 25-Sep 1 |
44 |
40 |
16 |
|
1967 Jul 13-18 |
50 |
35 |
16 |
|
1953 Dec 11-16 |
55 |
30 |
15 |
Now thinking more specifically, which of the following roles would you like to see the United Nations play in world affairs today -- should it play -- [ROTATED: a leading role where all countries are required to follow U.N. policies; a major role, where the U.N. establishes policies, but where individual countries still act separately when they disagree with the U.N.; (or should it play) a minor role, with the U.N. serving mostly as a forum for communication between nations, but with no policy making role]?
|
Leading role |
Major |
Minor |
Should not exist (vol.) |
Other (vol.) |
No opinion |
|
|
2001 Feb 1-4 |
19% |
49 |
28 |
* |
1 |
3 |
*Less than 0.5%
