Tepid U.S. support for United Nations warms slightly

Posted By Colum Lynch Monday, February 22, 2010 - 10:29 AM Share

A new Gallup poll shows that the American public is not an enthusiastic fan of the United Nations but that it holds a better view of the organization than it did at the end of the Bush years, showing that the Obama administration's support for the world organization has been boosting its image.

The Gallup World Affairs poll -- conducted from February 1-3 -- shows that 31 percent of Americans believe the U.N. is doing a good job, up from 26 percent the previous year, marking the highest approval rating since 2005. The poll found that Democrats (45 percent) are twice as likely as Republicans (22 percent) to credit the U.N. with doing a good job.

Gallup has been polling Americans on their views of the United Nations since 1953. On average, 40 percent of Americans say each year that the U.N. is doing a good job. The United Nations got its highest rating, 58 percent, in 2002, just months after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington. At the time, the organization rallied behind the United States, and the U.N. Security Council passed a series of counterterrorism measures aimed at restricting the ability of America's foes, Al Qaeda and the Taliban, to raise funds and recruit supporters.

But the relationship deteriorated after the U.S. failed in 2003 to garner explicit support from the U.N. Security Council to launch its war against Iraq.

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HOLAHNYOUNG

1:20 PM ET

February 22, 2010

As long as there are

As long as there are international issues whichcontinue to plauge the world, I don't foresee the American public embracing the IGO. But UN approval ratings are parallel to that of the U.S. Congress. Americans are never satisfied with the work of policymakers (domestic & int'l) and it makes sense for them not to support insitutions that directly reflect their own views and wishes. But the problem with the policy is that there never is a right decision, there can only be a better one and that, is always subject to debate by the masses.

GRANT

11:47 PM ET

February 22, 2010

Hardly surprising, at the

Hardly surprising, at the moment the U.S has to hope that the world will back it on several issues.