A newly released poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showcases the divide between American adults on the issue of Ukraine.
Americans can’t agree on how much military funding should be sent to Ukraine, and the split seems to devolve among political party lines. This division comes at a bad time when Ukranian soldiers increasingly need help funding their war effort and are running low on ammunition.
The Ukraine War is Concerning to Americans
The AP-NORC poll in February found that 27% of US adult respondents said the government was sending too little aid to Ukraine. This is up from poll results in November, where only 14% of adults said the US was sending too little aid to Ukraine.
When combining this number with the Americans who think the government is giving the right amount of spending, then 59% of the adults polled at least agree with America supporting war efforts in Ukraine financially.
Support Reflects Growing Ukranian Struggles
The jump in support for sending aid to Ukraine reflects the deteriorating situation in the region, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently saying that increasing the supply of armenants is critical to Ukraine’s survival.
“I think this is the question of: Will we stand or not,” Zelenskyy said in a speech on February 28 to a summit of European nations in Albania. (via PBS)
Not What It Seems
While the number of US adults thinking the government is sending too little to Ukraine is increasing, a closer look at the numbers reveals that nearly all of this increased support is coming from Democrats.
44% of Democrats in the poll thought the government was spending too little on Ukraine in February, up from 17% in November.
Democrats Want to Keep Spending
An overwhelming majority of Democrats approve of government spending in Ukraine and a large group wants to meet the increasing demands of the Ukrainian military through additional aid.
Only 17% of Democrats in the poll thought that the government was spending too much in Ukraine, which was down from 32% in the November poll.
Most Republicans Want to Cut Back on Spending
Republican numbers are nearly flipped on this issue. According to the poll, a majority 55% of Republicans think the US is sending too much military aid to Ukraine.
Only 14% of Republicans think that the US is spending too little, with 29% thinking that the government is spending the right amount.
What About Independents?
Independent voting respondents remain largely unchanged on the Ukraine spending issue in the AP-NORC poll. 17% of respondents in both the February and November polls found that the United States was spending too little on the Ukrainian war effort.
There was a slight decrease in the percentage of Independents who thought the US government was spending too much. This figure dropped from 51% in November to 46% in February.
What Do These Poll Results Mean?
These poll results cast Ukraine as an immovable political flashpoint among Americans. Democrats are holding fast to the idea that stopping Russian aggression is a priority for government spending, while many Republicans and Independents disagree.
The Ukraine-Russia conflict just recently had its two-year anniversary, and it doesn’t seem to be reaching a natural conclusion anytime soon.
Serious Rhetoric From Top Democrats
One factor that may be pushing Democrat support higher is the levels of rhetoric being espoused by Democratic leadership. President Joe Biden called the Republican holdup of Ukrainian funds “close to criminal neglect” in early February. (via AP News)
Democrats are framing the conflict as extremely important to United States national security and Biden called the conflict an “inflection point” for the history of the world in October, according to The Atlantic.
The Right-Wing Distances Itself From Ukraine
The recent poll results for Republicans reflect a recent growing push by GOP leaders and commentators in the right-wing media for the US to distance itself from the conflict.
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson recently gave a non-confrontational interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin and recorded a series of videos extolling the virtues of Russian living, according to CNN.
Public Influence of Right-Wing Rhetoric
Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at the progressive group Media Matters, has a cynical view on the effect of rhetoric in right-wing spaces.
“The GOP’s shift away from support for Ukraine shows how in the Republican Party, everything flows downstream from the obsessions and priorities of right-wing propagandists,” he said. “Tucker Carlson and his ilk wanted to back Putin’s invasion, their relentless lies won over the party’s base, and ultimately its elected officials have adopted their position.” (via CNN)
Helping Others Versus Helping Our Own
Republicans often don’t see abandoning support for Ukraine as being pro-Russian, but rather as a shift in caring about the American public more.
“We’re throwing all this taxpayer money to Ukraine and to Israel, and we can’t even take care of our own people,” said Texas Republican Jeffery Jackson to AP News. “The U.S. government needs to take care of our own people and then worry about the rest of the world later.”
