Americans rate UN poorly in five key areas: Survey

A new poll shows that many Americans have a poor outlook on the United Nations and its performance in five chief objectives.

The Gallup poll released Sunday found that 73 percent were most critical of the U.N.’s efforts to uphold international peace and security, with 25 percent saying the international body is doing a good job. Seventy percent rated the U.N. poorly on both upholding international law and protecting human rights, and 28 percent say the U.N. has done well with both objectives.

Sixty-three percent say the U.N. has done poorly in supporting sustainable development, compared to 34 percent who say the U.N. is doing a good job.

Over half of Americans also rated the U.N.’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance such as food, shelter and medical care to people affected by war, famine or natural disasters poorly, at 53 percent. Forty-five percent rate the U.N.’s assistance to people affected by war, famine or other disasters favorably.

Gallup stated that these negative ratings are consistent with Americans’ recent evaluations of the U.N.’s overall job performance, finding that about six in 10 view it as doing a poor job in handling world problems.

Pollsters did find that Americans still have a positive outlook on the U.N. as an organization and its missions. These opinions are split by partisanship, with 55 percent of Democrats rating the U.N. as best on humanitarian assistance, followed by 43 percent of independents and 36 percent of Republicans.

Democrats lead in favoring the U.N.’s support for sustainable development at 44 percent, and 32 percent of independents and 27 percent of Republicans feel the same. The U.N.’s ability to protect human rights is favored by 33 percent of Democrats, 25 percent of independents and 27 percent of Republicans.

The U.N.’s objective to uphold international law received similar support. Thirty-five percent of Democrats, 26 percent of independents and 25 percent of Republicans approve of the international body’s handling of this issue.

Democrats, independents and Republicans’ lowest approval rating goes toward the U.N.’s objective to maintain international peace and security, at 32 percent, 23 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

“As has been the case for most of the past two decades, Americans support the United Nations as an institution but don’t think it is doing an effective job of handling the problems it has faced,” pollsters wrote. “The last time a majority of Americans approved of the job the UN was doing was in the period after 9/11.”

Gallup noted that the poll’s release comes ahead of the annual U.N. General Assembly this week, and as the international community faces several challenges, including the Russian-Ukrainian war, Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and the U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran.

Americans’ views toward the U.N. differ from those of other countries. Gallup released a separate poll showing that majorities in 67 countries approve of the organization’s job performance, with nine countries disapproving of the U.N.’s handling of issues.

The Gallup survey on how Americans grade the U.N. was conducted Sept. 1-14 and included 2,024 respondents. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.