An internal alliance poll showing weak U.S. confidence in European support highlights a growing crisis of trust inside NATO ahead of a high-stakes summit.
Public confidence in NATO is weakening in the United States, according to an internal alliance poll reported by POLITICO, adding fresh pressure on transatlantic leaders as President Donald Trump renews his attacks on Europe’s defense commitments.
The poll found that only 43 percent of American adults believe European allies would help the United States if it were attacked. The figure is politically significant because NATO is built around the principle of collective defense: under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, an attack on one ally is considered an attack on all, and members are expected to assist the country under attack. NATO says Article 5 is at the heart of the alliance’s deterrence system.
The findings come as Trump intensifies criticism of NATO before the alliance’s July 7–8 summit in Ankara. In recent remarks, he described current U.S. support for NATO as “ridiculous” and “one-sided,” arguing that European governments have not done enough to share the defense burden. His administration has also linked the debate to European reluctance to support recent U.S. military operations connected to Iran, turning NATO’s traditional burden-sharing dispute into a broader test of political loyalty.
For NATO officials, the poll points to a deeper problem than a single policy disagreement. If Americans increasingly doubt that Europe would defend them, support for the U.S. security guarantee could become harder to sustain. That guarantee has been the backbone of European security since 1949, but Trump’s criticism has made the alliance’s mutual-defense pledge appear more conditional and more politically fragile.
Recent public polling also shows a sharp partisan divide. Pew Research Center reported Monday that 75 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents hold a favorable view of NATO, compared with only 42 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. That split suggests that NATO, once treated largely as a bipartisan pillar of U.S. foreign policy, is becoming another front in America’s domestic political polarization.
The internal poll also comes at a moment when perceptions of rival powers are shifting. Gallup reported earlier this year that global approval of U.S. leadership fell from 39 percent in 2024 to 31 percent in 2025, while approval of China’s leadership rose from 32 percent to 36 percent. In the United States, Gallup found that 34 percent of Americans now view China favorably, up from 29 percent in 2025 and more than double its low point three years ago.
That does not mean Americans see China or Russia as trusted allies. Both countries remain widely viewed with suspicion, and Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to shape Western security policy. But the rise in favorable views toward China, combined with doubts about Europe’s reliability, suggests that traditional assumptions about America’s global alignments are becoming less stable.
The skepticism is not limited to the United States. A recent European Council on Foreign Relations survey found that only 11 percent of Europeans across 15 countries now see the United States as an ally sharing their interests and values, down from 22 percent in 2024. Many Europeans also doubt that Washington would come to their defense in a crisis, reinforcing a cycle of mistrust on both sides of the Atlantic.
NATO leaders are expected to use the Ankara summit to reinforce unity, increase defense-spending commitments and reassure voters that the alliance remains credible. Yet the political environment is increasingly difficult. European governments are under pressure to spend more on defense while managing inflation, debt and social spending. Washington, meanwhile, is demanding that allies take greater responsibility for Europe’s security as U.S. strategic attention shifts toward the Indo-Pacific.
The danger for NATO is not simply that one leader questions the alliance. It is that public trust may erode on both sides at the same time. If Americans doubt Europe would help them, and Europeans doubt the United States would defend them, NATO’s deterrent power could weaken even without a formal withdrawal by any member.
For now, the alliance remains intact, militarily powerful and central to Western defense planning. But the latest polling shows that NATO’s political foundations are under strain. Seventy-seven years after its creation, the alliance faces a challenge that cannot be solved only with new weapons or higher budgets: convincing its own citizens that collective defense still means what it says.
