Trump's threat to abandon NATO allies to Russian attack 'lands with a thud' - 83% of US voters call alliance 'important' and only a quarter worry about freeloading Europeans

Donald Trump has a knack for saying what many voters want to hear.

But the former president is wide of the mark when it comes to sticking up for NATO allies in the face of Russian aggression.

That's according to a Quinnipiac University poll, which shows US voters by wide margins firmly back the 74-year-old military alliance and its cast-iron mutual defense guarantee.

More than seven-in-ten respondents called Trump's approach — to encourage Russia to attack a non-paying NATO member — a 'bad idea.'

The nationwide Quinnipiac University survey of 1,421 voters was carried out in mid-February 

Barely a fifth called it a 'good idea.'

Quinnipiac pollster Tim Malloy said Trump's 'hardball stance' toward NATO allies 'lands with a thud' with the 1,421 respondents.

'American voters affirm the 31-member security alliance isn't just good for Europe, it's good for the United States,' said Malloy.

Trump has longstanding concerns that America is being taken for a ride by NATO allies that don't meeting a commitment to devote 2 percent of their economies to defense spending.

Speaking at a rally in Conway, South Carolina, earlier this month, the Republican front-runner went further than in his previous remarks.

He recounted a story about an unidentified NATO member who confronted him over his threat not to defend members who fail to meet the trans-Atlantic alliance's defense spending targets.

'You didn't pay? You're delinquent?' Trump recounted saying.

'No I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.'

Then-president Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin shake hands in Helsinki, Finland, in 2018 

Ukrainian military walk amid debris after a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv: a potent symbol of Russia's threat to Europe 

Flags of countries members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at the alliance's headquarters in Belgium

NATO allies agreed in 2014, after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, to halt the spending cuts they had made after the Cold War and move toward spending 2 percent of their GDPs on defense by 2024.

Pollster Tim Malloy says Trump's NATO policy 'lands with a thud' with voters

This year, 18 Allies are expected to reach that target — a six-fold increase since 2014, when only three Allies met the guideline, NATO says.

Trump's comments alarmed many, as it undermined the collective defense pact at the heart of NATO, known as Article 5 — that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

President Joe Biden called the remarks by his likely 2024 election opponent 'dangerous' and 'un-American.'

The comments came as Ukraine remained mired in its efforts to stave off Russia's 2022 invasion and as Republicans in Congress grew increasingly skeptical of providing Kiev with more weapons and money.

Quinnipiac's polling shows that Trump's views on NATO do not resonate with voters.

Fully 71 percent said that encouraging Russia to invade an underpaying member was a 'bad idea.'

Only 18 percent said it was a 'good idea;' another 11 percent did not offer an opinion. 

A giant Ukrainian flag unfurled during a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Madrid, Spain, one of NATO's 31 members

Russian D-30 howitzer crews target their Ukrainian foes in Kupiansk, in a war that has alarmed NATO members along Russia's border

An overwhelming 83 percent of respondents said America's NATO membership was important, while 25 percent said it was not.

Democrats were more supportive of NATO than were Republicans.

Still, more GOP voters disagreed with Trump than agreed with him, the poll showed.

The nationwide survey of 576 Republicans and 624 Democrats was carried out in the middle of February, with an error margin of +/- 2.6 percent.

NATO — the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — currently has 31 members, most of them European nations, plus the US and Canada.

It was founded in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union with Cold War tensions rising.

NATO takes decisions by consensus, but the political and military strength of the US means that it is by far the most powerful country in the alliance, with its nuclear arsenal seen as the ultimate security guarantee.