Americans Remain Supportive of Backing Ukraine, but Poll Finds Signs of Fatigue
Latest Critical Issues Poll Also Measures How Partisanship Impacts Attitudes on Ukraine War
Department of Government and Politics professors Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development, and Stella Rouse, Director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, surveyed more than 2,000 Americans this month to see how their attitudes related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have changed since their first Critical Issues Poll on the topic.
"There are signs of American public fatigue over the Ukraine war,” said Telhami. In May, only 59% of Americans said they were prepared to see higher energy prices because of the conflict, down from 73% who said the same in March.
The share of Americans who said they were prepared to see an increase in inflation (52% in May and 65% in March) and potentially lose U.S. troops (27% in May to 32% in March), likewise shrunk. So, too, did the share of Americans who said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine made them have a “more positive” view of President Joe Biden; there was a 3% drop in the number of respondents who said they had a “more positive view” of President Biden between the two survey months.
Telhami and Rouse sought to unlock new insights by splitting respondents into two groups, asking one group about their support for no-fly zone (NFZ) over Ukraine without any additional context, and one group of respondents about their support for an NFZ with the following preface:
“NATO and US leaders have opposed a no-fly zone over Ukraine because they say it would risk war with Russia. Imposing a no-fly zone means being prepared to attack Russian defenses, including on Russian territory, shoot down Russian airplanes, and having NATO/US planes shot down.”
Telhami and Rouse found that when respondents were presented with information about the dangers of a no-fly zone (NFZ), they were less likely to support it no matter their political affiliation. Similarly, Republicans and Democrats had shared attitudes toward the Russian invasion, near-identical numbers of each party respectively saying they were most upset by Russia violating “sovereignty and international law,” followed by Russia attacking a democratic country, Russia attacking a country friendly to the U.S., and lastly Russia attacking a European country.
The latest poll also took a closer look at partisanship by asking one group of adults about actions attributed to the U.S. broadly, and the other about the same actions but instead attributed to the Biden Administration. Here, there were more differences than similarities.
For example, when asked to rate whether they thought “alerting the international community early about Russia’s plan” was an appropriate response, 86% of Democrats were in favor of this action, regardless of whether that step was attributed to the U.S. or the Biden Administration. For Republicans, however, 61% said it was a favorable step when taken by the U.S., but only 28% said it was a favorable step when taken by the Biden Administration.
When asked about their views of “mobilizing NATO support against Russia’s invasion” by the U.S. versus the Biden Administration, 85% and 84% of Democrats expressed favorable views compared to 58% and 38% of Republicans, respectively.
"The gap between Democratic and Republican attitudes toward the Ukraine war and the US response to it has widened since last March, dampening any hopes that the blatant Russian invasion would help bridge our own divided public. And even as the public remains supportive of most steps undertaken by the U.S. in response to the war, this has not translated into positive views of President Biden,” Telhami concluded.
Read the full questionnaire here. Find additional takeaways in this Brookings article.
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Published on Wed, Aug 24, 2022 - 12:14PM