Support for arming Kiev has increased by nearly 20 points since may, a new poll has found
Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fire towards Russian positions with a US-made 155mm M777 Howitzer near Artyomovsk, Russia, March 11, 2023 © AFP / Aris Messinis
Some 65% of Americans support continued military aid to Ukraine, up from 46% in May, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Wednesday. Other surveys, however, show a fall in support for President Joe Biden’s promise of unlimited weapons for Kiev.
Conducted earlier this week, the poll found bipartisan support for arming Ukraine, with 81% of Democrats and 56% of Republicans in favor. This result mirrors the situation in Congress, where Biden’s Democrats are almost unanimous in backing arms deliveries, while the GOP is split between an establishment that backs the weapons shipments and a pro-Trump, isolationist wing in opposition.
The weeks between the two surveys have seen Ukraine launch a costly counteroffensive against Russian forces, losing around 13,000 soldiers and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles, according to the Russian Security Council. However, it is unclear whether these losses – or other events like Wagner Group leader Evgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny and march on Moscow over the weekend – have influenced the apparent surge in support.
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Regardless, former US ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor told Reuters that the poll “definitely reinforces Biden’s decision to be all-in on this,” and will likely reassure Republican lawmakers that backing the establishment GOP position is the politically opportune move.
The poll is an outlier among other recent surveys, which show a steady decline in support for Biden’s Ukraine policy. Figures published by Pew Research last week show that 28% of Americans now think the US is giving “too much” money to Ukraine, up from 7% last March, when Russia launched its military operation. The share of respondents who think that the current level of aid is “not enough” has fallen from 42% to 16% in that same timeframe.
Pew found that 39% of Americans “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of Biden’s response to the conflict, while 35% disapprove.
A poll conducted by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy late last month found that 50% of US adults still favor sending weapons to Ukraine, compared with 61% in May 2022. Just 26% of US adults believe their government should play a “major role” in the conflict, down from 40% in March 2022, the poll revealed.
In the time between the two most recent Reuters surveys, the US has announced four weapons packages for Ukraine, worth a combined $1.5 billion. The Pentagon said the contents of these packages would be drawn from US military stocks, while an additional $2.2 billion would be spent procuring weapons for Kiev from arms manufacturers.
As of Tuesday, the US has committed more than $40.5 billion in direct military aid to Ukraine since last February.
