Partisan gap on views of the UN have widened orever time in the U.S. Favorable view of the United Nations in the U.S., by party
When this question was first posed in 1990, seven-in-ten Americans viewed the UN favorably and the partisan divide was minimal. Nearly equal numbers of Democrats (73%) and Republicans (68%) shared a positive view of the UN. There was a dip in favorability in the late ’90s (possibly on account of the troubled UN peacekeeping mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina), but overall views of the international organization were positive among both Democrats and Republicans through 2001, before 9/11.
However, by 2004, following the start of the Iraq War in 2003, views of the UN among Republicans had plummeted below 50% and have not recovered, while attitudes among Democrats dropped somewhat – particularly in 2006 and 2007 – but rose through the Obama era. Consequently, the current U.S. partisan divide on favorable views of the UN (a 37-percentage-point difference between Democrats and Republicans) is the largest we have measured.
Partisan gap on views of the UN have widened orever time in the U.S.  | Favorable view of the United Nations in the U.S., by party  | 100 %  | 85  | 79 81  | 79 78  | 75  | 80 Democrats  | .68 74 72  | 72  | 7170 72  | 73  | .68  | 68  | 69 68  | 59  | 69 68  | 64 Independents  | 69  | 68  | 67  | .62  | 58 5655  | 51  | 43 Republicans  | 49  | 48  | 45  | 4142  | 41  | 38  | 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016  | Source: Pew Research Center surveys 1990-2003 and 2005; Spring 2016 Global Attitudes Survey.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 