A new Pew Research poll finds that 74 percent of Americans believe that the war in Ukraine is important to US national interests with 43 percent of respondents saying that the war is “very important.” Among Democrats, 81 percent believe that Russia’s war against Ukraine is important to America’s interests, whereas only 69 percent of Republicans feel that way.
When examined at the micro-level, 34 percent say the war is “somewhat important” to them personally, while 25 percent say that the war in Ukraine is “very important” to them personally – representing, on the whole, 56 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Democrats who feel the war is important to them on a personal level, with older Americans being more interested in the topic than younger citizens.
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Steve Moore, a Republican political strategist who worked in Congress for many years is not surprised as the “poll shows what we all know – a majority of Americans support Ukraine.”
Despite Americans’ strong interest in the fate of Ukraine, Congressional Speaker Mike Johnson decided to adjourn Congress until the end of February, reconvening a mere two days before the US Government is poised to shut down due to a federal budget having not been passed.
Johnson has been keen to block further assistance for Ukraine because former President Donald Trump is urging Republicans to prevent a deal being reached before elections. Trump had earlier called on Republicans to reject the compromise Senate aid package for Ukraine.
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Republicans appear to be on the verge of nominating Trump, who has so far won in all states where there have been primaries and who is leading his opponent, Nikki Haley, country-wide by an average of 57.7 percent.
Credit: Pew Research
Donald Trump, Jr., the President’s son, has recently begun attacking Republican Senators who did not comply with his father’s demands to not support Ukraine aid and has openly called on those senators to be challenged in their next primaries, according to The Hill.
Moore, who founded the Ukraine Freedom Project, notes: “What the poll did not ask is whether they support spending $62 billion to aid Ukraine.”
However, he added: “The Ukraine Freedom Project poll of Republican voters shows that only 36 percent of Republicans favor spending more money on Ukraine and only 16 percent strongly favor spending the money.”
Seeing this divide, Moore surmises that “two years of largely unanswered Russian propaganda directed at American conservatives has taken its toll.”
So, is Congress’ behavior in not passing Ukraine aid going to hurt the public’s perception of the House?
More points out that “the other question not asked by Pew in this survey is American’s opinion of Congress,” adding: “Typically, Americans view Congress slightly more favorably than they do a root canal. Nobody likes the way Congress is behaving on any topic.”
Gallup Polls found that currently only 15 percent of Americans approve the way that Congress is doing its job.
Whether Ukraine aid will pass the House is still unknown, though there are increasing threats from House members that they will bypass the Speaker’s refusal to conduct a vote and will force a vote on Ukraine using a procedure called a “discharge petition,” which allows a long-awaited bill to be brought to the floor, without the Speaker’s consent. Circumventing the Speaker would be a blow to Johnson.
A report from NBC on Monday indicated that the “Biden administration is leaning toward supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles if Republicans continue to block US military aid to Ukraine,” saying that “the White House could turn to an ally to provide Kyiv with ATACM missiles capable of striking Russian-held Crimea.”
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