Foreign aid is an easy political target. But do Americans want it gone?

The Trump administration has taken a sledgehammer to U.S. foreign aid, dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development and canceling nearly all of its contracts. Administration officials have justified the cuts by citing concerns over wasteful spending and inefficiencies. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “foreign aid is the least popular thing government spends money on,” while the White House has said that the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.” Indeed, the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research polls show that 6 in 10 Americans think that the government spends too much money overall — including on foreign aid —but that they want spending on Social Security and Medicare to continue. At the same time, Americans hold deep misconceptions about foreign aid: Poll after poll shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans have long vastly overestimated how much the U.S. spends on international assistance: Many believe it accounts for about a quarter of the federal budget. When people assume the number is that high, the majority say the U.S. is spending too much on foreign aid. But when they are told the actual figure — about 1% of the annual budget — most say the U.S. is spending about the right amount — and that shift occurs across party lines, according to a recent survey from KFF. This reveals a significant gap between the administration’s actions and public opinion and underscores the role misinformation plays in shaping attitudes toward foreign aid. How much is the US spending abroad anyway? Public perception of foreign aid spending is deeply disconnected from reality. According to KFF, nearly 9 in 10 Americans (86%) overestimate how much of the federal budget goes to international assistance. When given the correct figure, public attitudes shift dramatically. The share of Americans who believe the U.S. spends too much on foreign aid drops from 58% to 34%, while those who say the country spends too little increases by 17 percentage points to 28%. This longstanding pattern holds across political lines, with many Republicans preferring to scale back rather than eliminate aid altogether, while most Democrats and independents support maintaining or expanding it. Many voters believe that cutting foreign aid would significantly reduce the federal deficit. About half (47%) believe cutting the agency would free up money for domestic spending or reduce the deficit. Among Republicans, 67% think eliminating USAID would shrink the deficit, compared to just 28% of Democrats and 46% of independents. This is despite the fact that the U.S. foreign aid budget was in the tens of billions of dollars — $63.1 billion for fiscal year 2024 for USAID and the State Department — and the national deficit for the first five months of fiscal year 2025 is over a trillion dollars. Many conservative leaders including President Donald Trump have instead emphasized accusations of waste and corruption within USAID and the country’s broader foreign aid approach. According to the conservative think tank Cato Institute, “Reductions in wasteful aid may not put much of a dent in overall government spending. … But the fact that foreign assistance is not accomplishing its goals fully justifies the cuts.” Some of this messaging appears to be trickling down to U.S. voters. A recent poll by Public First for the Financial Times found that almost 60% of respondents agreed that funds set aside for humanitarian causes were “wasted on corruption or administration fees.” How attitudes have shifted since 2016 These findings are particularly striking when compared to public sentiment just a few years ago. In 2016, a larger share of Republicans supported a U.S. role in global health efforts, with many acknowledging its benefits in preventing the spread of diseases and maintaining national security. But since Trump’s first presidency, skepticism toward international engagement has risen, driven in part by repeated claims that foreign aid is a waste of taxpayer money. At the same time, Democratic and independent support for aid has remained steady or even grown, according to the KFF data, creating a deeper partisan divide. While Republicans have increasingly viewed foreign aid as excessive, Democrats are more likely to see it as a strategic investment. This polarization reflects broader political trends, where issues once considered bipartisan, such as global health and development, have become entangled in ideological battles. The global context: Foreign aid under pressure worldwide The U.S. is not alone in seeing foreign aid cuts. The United Kingdom recently announced that it would slash foreign aid down to 0.3% of gross national income by 2027 from current levels of 0.5% in order to increase defense spending — a move that two-thirds of the public support, according to polls. This comes as aid budgets across the continents were already getting reduced because of broad economic pressures, even though nearly 9 and 10 Europeans polled in 2024 said that the European Union should maintain current levels of humanitarian spending. The Trump administration has also had this point of view on the need for equitable burden sharing and equitable spending when it comes to foreign aid, too. This is despite the fact that, when measured as a share of gross national income, the U.S. ranks lower than many of its European counterparts in aid contributions. While the U.S. leads in absolute dollars, countries like Norway and Sweden contribute a far larger percentage of their economies to global development. What’s at stake? Despite the Trump administration’s push to scale back foreign aid, polling suggests that most Americans — when given accurate information — support continued engagement. However, public perception remains highly malleable, influenced by competing political narratives and ongoing debates over budget priorities — as shown by the major shifts amongst Republican perceptions of foreign aid over the past eight years, according to KFF. A crucial question remains: Do Americans really want USAID dismantled? While some Americans may support scaling back foreign aid, those polled by KFF still recognize its strategic value. About half (52%) of those surveyed by KFF said eliminating USAID would make the country less safe, with major differences across party lines — over 3 in 4 Democrats believed this to be the case, compared to 1 in 4 Republicans.