Echoing what former President Donald Trump has been saying for years, most voters think the U.S. is paying more than its fair share of NATO's budget, a Rasmussen Reports survey found.
Many voters questioned whether the U.S. — which contributes nearly one-quarter of NATO's $2.5 billion annual budget — sufficiently benefits from being part of the NATO alliance, Rasmussen Reports said.
Just 32% of likely voters said America should continue to give more money to NATO than any other member country.
A total of 53% of respondents disagreed, saying the U.S. should not give more money than any other member, and 15% were not sure.
Rasmussen Reports also found that only 30% of voters think U.S. taxpayers are getting a good return on their investment in NATO, down from 34% in 2019.
A total of 46% did not consider NATO a good investment, up from 42% in 2019, and 24% were undecided.
The Associated Press said last week that some of NATO's 30 member countries are supplying arms, ammunition and other equipment to Ukraine, which has been invaded by Russia. NATO as an organization, though, won't launch any military action in support of Ukraine, which is a close partner but has no prospect of joining.
Trump released a statement on Monday saying it was his administration that saved NATO and provided Ukraine with advanced Javelin anti-tank missiles.
"I hope everyone is able to remember that it was me, as President of the United States, that got delinquent NATO members to start paying their dues, which amounted to hundreds of billions of dollars," Trump wrote in the statement.
Doubts about the U.S. share of NATO's budget have increased since 2019, when 49% of voters felt America was paying too much.
Among voters from the two major parties, 47% of Democrats and 21% of Republicans think the U.S. should continue giving more money to NATO than any other member country.
Majorities of Republicans (57%) and unaffiliated voters (51%) said American taxpayers are not getting a good return on their investment in NATO. Just 32% of Democrats agreed.
Despite the concerns surrounding the funding of NATO, 65% of voters said they had a favorable impression of the alliance.
The Rasmussen survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted February 27-28. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
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