UN broadly credited with promoting peace and human rights as younger adults are more supportive of international cooperation

beginning excerpt:

A Pew Research Center survey of 14,276 people across 14 countries conducted in summer 2020 finds that many believe greater global cooperation could have reduced the human toll from COVID-19. The same poll reveals strong support for taking the interests of other countries into account even if this requires compromise. These findings are in line with a pre-coronavirus 2019 Pew Research Center survey in 12 of the same 14 countries that showed robust public support for the idea of nations cooperating, rather than competing, on the world stage.

Publics in the 14 countries surveyed this past summer generally hold favorable opinions of the United Nations. Young people and those with a college education are even more likely to approve – a pattern consistent with past surveys by the Center in which younger, more educated adults were more supportive of multilateral organizations and cooperation.

In the countries surveyed, the UN is typically given high marks for fulfilling its core mission of promoting peace and human rights. And for the most part, people say the 75-year-old organization does a good job of promoting economic development, the fight against infectious diseases like COVID-19 and action on climate change.

Publics in the 14 countries polled are less certain that the UN cares about the needs of ordinary people or that it is effective in actually solving international problems.

This last pair of findings is in line with past Pew Research Center surveys, which have demonstrated that while people tend to view multilateral organizations like the European Union and NATO favorably, doubts about these institutions persist. For example, many Europeans feel the EU does not understand the needs of its citizens and are reluctant to fulfill their country’s Article 5 obligations as NATO members.

In contrast to the mixed view of the UN’s overall effectiveness, more people in the surveyed countries express satisfaction with how the World Health Organization (WHO) has handled the coronavirus pandemic: A median of 63% say the multilateral institution has done a good job dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. Younger adults are particularly likely to hold this view [....]