A September 2006 Public Agenda poll highlighted a
long-held perception amongst Americans that the US is “doing more than its share" internationally. Seventy-one percent said that the
US has generally done more than its fair share, 24% said it has done its fair share and only 3% said it has done less.
A 1998 PIPA poll also found widespread feeling that the US does more than its fair share relative to European countries. Eighty-one percent also said the US does more than its fair share in maintaining peace in the world.
Such opinions rest on major misperceptions.
The most recent OECD estimate for US overseas development assistance indicates Americans have historically overestimated foreign aid as a portion of the US budget by nearly more than 100 times the actual amount.
Eighty-one percent have also believed, mistakenly, that the US gives more aid as a percentage of GDP than the other industrialized countries give (PIPA, January 1995).
Americans estimated that the US gave 37% of all development aid from rich countries and proposed a more reasonable percentage would be 26% (November 2000).
In fact, according to recent OECD figures, the US gives just 12% of the total amount of official development assistance.
[Source: WorldPublicOpinion.org]
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