Americans Vote 'No Confidence' on U.N.

    NEW YORK, Sept. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- A majority of Americans (57%) now
believe the United Nations should be scrapped and replaced if it cannot be
reformed and made more effective. That result is from an extensive national
benchmark survey about the UN on the 5th anniversary of 9/11, conducted by
Luntz Maslansky Strategic Research. The survey was released today at a
Hudson Institute conference, "The U.N. and Beyond: United Democratic
Nations."
    The American people express serious reservations about UN objectives,
results and activities. Overall, the country is evenly split when asked to
evaluate the UN: 48% favorable, 45% unfavorable. And while a large majority
(73%) want the United States to "take a more active role in the UN" because
"it is the best way for us to influence world affairs," consider the
following:
     -- 75% believe the UN is no longer "effective" and "needs to be held more
        accountable."

     -- 71% believe the UN "needs to be considerably reformed."

     -- 67% believe "there are too many undemocratic nations in the UN that do
        not care about promoting democracy and freedom."

     -- Only 37% believe the UN is "effective in PREVENTING wars and military
        conflicts."

     -- Only 32% believe the UN is "effective in ENDING wars and military
        conflicts."
    The rejection of the UN is bi-partisan. Democrats expressed negative
evaluations of the UN performance only slightly below the national average,
while Republicans were slightly above.
    "We live in an era of disappointment and dismay towards our governing
institutions, but the hostility towards the UN goes even deeper," said Dr.
Frank Luntz, author of the survey. "America is a politically polarized
country, but when Republicans and Democrats alike both agree that the UN
has failed, that's not only instructive, it's significant."
    The prognosis for opinion and credibility improvement is not good,
either. Consider the following:
     -- Only 27% of Americans have a more favorable opinion of the United
        Nations since 9/11.  By comparison, a majority (52%) now have less
        favorable impression of the international organization - a significant
        2 to 1 negative ratio.

     -- Just 24% believe the UN played an effective role in the Darfur
        genocide.

     -- Less than a majority (44%) think the UN handled the current Israeli-
        Hezbollah conflict effectively.
    "The problem for the UN isn't just perception, it's actual
performance," said pollster Luntz. "Whether it's failure to protect human
rights, stop a war, or even just prevent one, the American people are
simply giving up on the UN. What happens with Iran may well be the UN's
last opportunity to restore any sense of credibility. An unsuccessful
outcome could promote widespread calls for a new international
organization."
    There are several immediate policy questions and implications that the
poll touched on - and all of them indicate an overwhelmingly unified public
response. They include:
     -- Only 26% of the population believes America gets "good value for all
        the money we contribute to the United Nations every year."

     -- Asked a slightly different way, a still strikingly low 31% believes
        the U.S. gets good value for the five billion dollar annual U.S.
        contribution to the UN.

     -- It is therefore not surprising that 71% of the population want America
        to cut its financial contribution to the UN.  A majority from every
        geographic, demographic, attitudinal and political subgroup wants to
        see reductions in American funding.

     -- It is also not surprising that 60% oppose the expansion of the UN
        space in New York City and a sizeable 73% oppose any American funding
        of an expansion effort.
    "Any politician who calls for additional taxpayer dollars for anything
UN- related is going to run into the buzz-saw of an angry electorate,"
Luntz suggested. "The public may still tolerate the UN - barely - but they
won't tolerate their hard earned dollars going to an organization they
fundamentally dislike and distrust. The UN expansion project is a big
political loser."
    In an effort to understand the root cause of UN hostility, those polled
were asked to give their number one complaint about the UN. Fully 40%
referenced "financial corruption," while 23% named the "oil for food"
program. And when asked what the UN should be doing in the future, reform
of the institution itself was the top response. Half (49%) first want to
see an end to the corruption and mismanagement before anything else, 28%
want the UN primarily to increase its focus on human rights, and just 13%
think the institution should first prioritize addressing wars and military
conflict.
    Luntz offered the following conclusion: "The calls of UN Ambassador
Bolton for fundamental reform at the UN have near-universal support in
America. The 'oil for food' scandal, serious financial mismanagement
scandals, the recent mediocre performances in Darfur and the Middle East,
the confusing bureaucratic structure of the U.N., and the lack of serious
effort against terrorism and terrorist nations - all these elements
contribute to America's view that the United Nations is in dire need of
reform, realignment, and a reality-check. Unless the U.N. can show marked
improvement in accountability and performance, Americans will not hesitate
to call for the replacement of the U.N."
    ** Eight hundred (800) telephone interviews were conducted nationwide
    with a randomly selected, representative sample concluding September
    5, 2006. The margin of error is +/-3.5%.**

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