Polls Find Americans Back Sanctions on Russia and Aid to Ukraine, but not Sending Troops

Overwhelming Support

The Washington Post and ABC News recently conducted quite a bit of polling to understand how the average American feels about current events in Russia and Ukraine. In a sense, this is already a sort of a “world war” in that it affects us all in one way or another.

According to recent Washington Post – ABC News polling, Americans stand strong in their support of Ukraine more than two months after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of the sovereign country. In addition, a large, bipartisan majority is backing humanitarian and military aid to help the people survive and fight to push back Russian aggression.

All of that information may be found here for those of you who like looking at the raw numbers of these types of polls. Enjoy.

This pretty much says it all:  73 percent say the United States is doing either the right amount or too little to support Ukraine. Wow. Think about it, when was it that 73% of Americans agreed on anything? I think it’s fair to say that we, as a nation, stand solidly behind the Ukrainian people. Americans hate a bully, and that’s exactly what Putin is on a cosmic scale.

As you can see, even after sending billions of dollars worth of aid to Ukraine, many people feel we are not doing enough. And it’s not just military aid we’re talking about, although that is a big part of it. It’s humanitarian aid and indirect aid by tightening sanctions on Russia.

No Direct Military Action Against Russia

While there is strong bipartisan support for the Ukrainian people, most Americans (72%) oppose the US taking direct military action against Russian forces. A surprising (at least to me) 21% support the idea. Even among those who say the United States is doing too little to support Ukraine, 57 percent oppose direct military action, something President Biden has said is off the table, repeatedly warning that such a move could lead to “World War III.” Nobody wants World War III.

These findings suggest that America’s current policies largely reflect the will of the people when it comes to how we are dealing with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Biden administration has been increasingly ramping up military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. He asked Congress for another $33 billion for the cause just last week, and there hasn’t seemed to be much push-back.

Additionally, there seems to be little Congressional opposition to ratcheting down sanctions on Russia. Keeping the US physically out of the fight gets lots of support as well. Ideas like implementing a no-fly zone over Ukraine (which, to the uninitiated at first, might sound like a good idea) are routinely shot down (no pun intended) as they could potentially lead to direct war with Russia.

A Pain in the Gas

Despite broad bipartisan support for the sanctions, most Americans (almost two-thirds) are concerned that this contributes to higher food and energy costs at home.

The anxiety is bipartisan as well, with 68 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Republicans saying they are concerned.

Nationally, gas prices have averaged more than $4 a gallon since the beginning of March. If you live in California, where the average price for a gallon of gas currently stands at $5.74 a gallon, the $4 mark might sound pretty appealing to you.