Britons’ Enduring Support for NATO

As world leaders meet in Vilnius for the NATO Summit, BFPG’s latest public opinion research finds that Britons have strong and enduring support for NATO. Every year BFPG conducts an annual survey of public opinion on foreign policy, covering everything from aid and climate change to alliances and defence.

In response to the current geopolitical context, our 2023 survey focuses sharply on perceptions of the UK’s defence and security activities, including membership of NATO. It finds strong and robust support for the UK’s involvement in NATO, with the overwhelming majority (78%) of Britons supporting the UK’s membership of the organisation. Meanwhile, just 9% of Britons believe the UK should leave NATO.

This strength in support marks a substantial 11 percentage point uplift in support for membership of NATO in two years, up from 67% when we polled on this question in 2021. This is largely driven by a fall in the proportion of Britons who are unsure of their view of NATO membership, reflecting the growing prominence of NATO in the public consciousness since the invasion of Ukraine. Even as tensions between Russia and NATO grow, 75% of Britons believe that NATO makes the UK safer, while just 6% believe the organisation makes the UK less safe.

Support, of course, is not universal and there are demographic variations. While support is incredibly high among older Britons, e.g. over-66s (90%), younger Britons, e.g. 26-35-year-olds (64%), are less supportive. Nevertheless, given a strong majority across all demographics support NATO membership and believe it makes the UK safer, there is a remarkably strong mandate for the UK’s membership of NATO.

However, the situation in Vilnius is less cohesive. While Turkey’s agreement to support Sweden’s membership all but clears the pathway for Sweden’s accession, commitments to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance ‘when allies agree and conditions are met’ further postpone a decision on Ukraine’s membership. The issue of defence spending also continues to loom over the Summit, with just a third of NATO members on track to meet their commitment to spending 2% of GDP on defence this year.

Since 2019 BFPG has completed a nationally representative public opinion survey on the key foreign policy issues of the day. Polling for the 2023 edition involved a nationally representative sample of 2,158 people and was conducted from 26th May – 1st June 2023.