NATO

Led by Republicans, Americans' Support for NATO Fades

Has the Cold War-era military alliance outlived its usefulness?

J.D. Tuccille | 4.22.2026 7:00 AM

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President Donald Trump's doubts about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) date back at least to the 1980s, when he took out full-page newspaper ads questioning the value of defending prosperous allies capable of paying for their own security. So, when he voices frustration with the alliance and the lack of support among its members for the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran's theocratic regime, it's not a new development. What's new is growing disenchantment with NATO among Americans, led by the president's Republican supporters.

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Rising Doubts About NATO Membership

"A majority of Republicans (60%) now say the U.S. benefits not too much or not at all from being part of the alliance, up from 50% in 2025," Pew Research reported earlier this month. That's an 11-point drop in support for NATO membership among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents—from 49 percent to 38 percent—just from last year.

As recently as 2022, 55 percent of Republicans supported U.S. membership in NATO.

An overwhelming majority of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents—82 percent—continues to support NATO membership in numbers barely changed over the past five years. But the decline in support among Republicans means that alliance participation's........

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