A year after the Trump administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a new poll commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation and released Tuesday reveals that most Americans still support foreign aid for disaster relief, disease prevention, and security improvements.
Poll Shows Strong Support for Foreign Aid
The poll of 2,022 voters found that Republicans and President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) base were initially skeptical of foreign aid, but support grew significantly after receiving more details. Nearly all Americans vastly overestimated how much Washington spends on such programs, with over a third believing foreign aid accounts for 20% of the annual U.S. budget.
When informed that foreign aid accounted for just 1% of the U.S. budget before 2025 and briefed on its accomplishments, overall support for foreign aid rose to 70% from 54%. Republican support reached 58%, and even MAGA Republicans—defined as those who primarily support Trump over the party—backed aid at 50%, the foundation said.
Trump's USAID Closure and Its Impact
Trump, who made cutting foreign aid a cornerstone of his "America First" campaign promises, ordered the closure of USAID when he took office in January 2025. Well over 10,000 USAID personnel and contractors were fired, and thousands of programs were canceled, disrupting U.S.-funded aid operations that millions of the world's poorest people depended on.
U.S. foreign aid disbursements dropped to $47 billion in fiscal year 2025 from $72 billion a year earlier, according to U.S. data. Those cuts could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal last year.
Public Opinion on Specific Programs
The poll, conducted June 12-16 by Echelon Insights, showed that 78% of those surveyed favored maintaining or expanding foreign aid outlays. “This data is a direct rebuttal to anyone who claims Americans have lost their appetite for the world,” said John Gans, a former Pentagon speechwriter and project lead at The Rockefeller Foundation. “One year after USAID’s razing, a majority of Americans don’t just want to ensure federal funding to feed the hungry, cure the sick, and respond to crises around the world; they see good reason to increase it.”
MAGA voters, who started as the most skeptical of any group, showed a 27-point swing toward supporting foreign aid once given more information. Republicans supported restoring aid to fight the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo by 62% to 24% after receiving more data, including experts' views that U.S. funding cuts were a significant factor in the rapid spread of the disease. MAGA voters supported that view by 52% to 34%.
Trump Administration Response
The Trump administration has responded to the widening Ebola outbreak and is seeking more than $1.4 billion in new funds from Congress to help fight it. The poll showed that support for foreign aid increased sharply when voters were asked about specific programs, such as disease prevention and peacekeeping, with 80% saying they favored reforms and adding better safeguards, not cancellation. Only 12% said foreign aid should be cut across the board regardless of impact.
