Most Americans believe the UN is inefficient
March 29, 2013, 4:21 am

Americans see the the world body as playing a lesser role in US policy since Washington invaded Iraq without UN approval [Getty Images]

Some 66 per cent of Americans say the UN plays a necessary role in the world, up 2 points from 2005; only 29 per cent say the UN does not play a necessary role, down 3 points from 2005, according to the poll conducted on February 25 and 26.

Gallup says the results are “unchanged from the last measurement in 2005 but lower than what Gallup found in 1997 (80 per cent), when the UN was conducting weapons inspections in Iraq”.

The Gallup Politics website analyzes the poll results to mean that the UN has taken a less prominent role in US foreign policy than in the past.

“Much of that may date back to the 2003 US decision to invade Iraq, for which Washington sought UN approval but went ahead without it,” the website says.

A similar poll last year asked if Americans thought the UN was doing a good job or a poor job in resolving the world’s problems. Some 61 per cent said the world was doing a poor job, while 32 per cent said it performed well.

This year, the same question yielded results that only 35 percent of Americans say that the world body is “doing a good job in trying to solve the problems it has had to face.” More than 60 per cent believe it is not.

The analysis continues to show that during times of war or international crisis, including during the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf Wars, Americans view the UN more favorably than other times. The all-time high rating of the UN by the Americans was at 58 per cent in February 2002, shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Americans’ views of the UN job dropped sharply in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and have stayed low since, Gallup said.

The BRICS Post with input from Agencies