Poles have a higher opinion of NATO membership than any other NATO country, with 82 percent of Poles viewing membership positively, according to the latest report from Pew Research Center.
Pew’s report shows that NATO is generally seen positively by the societies of allied states, despite tensions between the leaders of certain countries. In total, 53 percent of people see membership positively while only 27 percent were negative.
The highest support for NATO among countries in which the research was conducted was in Poland (82 percent), and the lowest in Turkey (21 percent). In the United States, support amounted to 52 percent and in Germany, 57 percent
Pew’s research was also conducted in non-allied countries, including Sweden, where 63 percent said they saw the alliance as positive and Ukraine where the number was at 53 percent.
Only 16 percent of Russians viewed NATO in a positive light.
Despite positively evaluating the alliance overall, there is reluctance from many of those surveyed to fulfill the commitments to joint defense written into Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
To the question whether a state should use military power to defend a NATO ally against a theoretical Russian attack, 50 percent in 16 NATO member states said “no” and only 38 percent responded “yes”.
