The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) released the results of a national survey measuring the feelings of U.S. voters toward the United Nations.

The survey finds that American voters, by nearly a 2-to-1 margin, believe the U.N. has an anti-United States bias. In addition, nearly 84% believe the U.N. should not have the power to impose a system of global taxation on sovereign nations and their citizens.

The survey found that U.S. voters view the world body as being anti-American by nearly a 2-to-1 margin (52.1% to 27.3%).

"One of the things that's most striking about the results of the survey is the relative consistency of viewpoints among very diverse demographic groups," said Jeffrey Mazzella, CFIF’s President.

The survey found that conservatives believe the U.N. to be anti-American by a margin of 61 percent to 23 percent; moderates held this view by a margin of 52 percent to 27 percent; and even liberals believe the U.N. is anti-American by a margin of 41 percent to 36 percent.

Similarly, in groups that played key roles in the recent election, frequent church goers believe the U.N. is anti-American by a margin of 63 percent to 15 percent while those who attend church only once or twice a year held the same view by a similar margin of 57 percent to 25 percent.

Among those surveyed with college degrees, 57 percent believe the U.N. to be anti-American while only 25 percent view the world body as pro-United States. People with only a high school diploma shared that view 53 percent to 25 percent. So did non-high school graduates: 43 percent to 22 percent.

The survey also found that a bare plurality of U.S. voters have a favorable opinion (46.1% favorable to 38.1% unfavorable) of the United Nations.

CFIF’s survey also found that an overwhelming percentage of American voters (83.6%) believe the U.N. should not have the power to impose taxes on citizens of sovereign nations.

"The U.N. has long attempted to impose a system of global taxation to redistribute wealth from citizens of the world’s developed nations like the United States to developing countries around the globe," Mazzella said. "In fact, Secretary General Kofi Annan amplified his call for ‘alternative sources of financing’ at a recent meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

"If Annan had his way, American taxpayers would be sending even more of our hard-earned dollars to the U.N. in the form of global taxes on everything from the gas we use in our automobiles to our e-mail communications," continued Mazzella. "The American people clearly recognize that global taxation threatens our nation’s sovereignty, especially when you consider that the U.N. would use that money against American interests.

"The results of this survey indicate that Americans see the U.N. for what it has become: an international forum to continually bash the United States and its interests at every turn," said Mazzella. "With increased media attention highlighting rampant corruption and manipulation at the U.N., these numbers are sure to worsen for the world body that time and time again fails in its mission to promote peace, as it instead fosters corruption and violence.

"It is our hope that this survey, coupled with increasing scrutiny of the world body, will prompt a serious and long-overdue national debate that will lead to substantive U.N. reform," said Mazzella. "With American taxpayers footing a large portion of the U.N.’s bills to the tune of billions of dollars annually, it’s past time for the U.S. to assess its support for the U.N. as it currently operates," Mazzella concluded.

This survey of 1,200 registered voters was conducted between November 14 through 16, 2004, by Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates (www.fabmac.com), a leading international survey research and strategic consulting firm based in Alexandria, Virginia. The survey has a margin of error of +/-2.8% at the 95% confidence interval. Respondent selection was at random within predetermined geographic units to reflect actual voter distribution in each state.