Most Americans Willing to Defend South Korea

The United States has defense treaties with a number of nations around the globe, and Rasmussen Reports is asking Americans periodically how they feel about going to bat for these countries if they're attacked.  On the latest list of four nations,  most Americans are only willing to defend one country, South Korea.  

The latest national telephone survey finds that 59% of American Adults say if South Korea is attacked, the United States should provide military assistance to help defend them.  Twenty-eight percent (28%) are opposed to assisting South Korea militarily, while 12% are undecided.  (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

On a list of over 60 nations, South Korea ranks fifth, just behind Israel in terms of who America would defend.  At the top of that list are Canada, Great Britain and Australia.  Colombia and many of the countries carved out of the former Soviet Union are among those Americans are least enthusiastic about defending.

South Korea’s communist neighbor, North Korea, falls second to last on this list.  Only 11% are willing to defend the communist nation militarily.  Most Americans (77%) are against helping North Korea. 

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The national survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on July 15-16, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.