A new poll released Monday finds widespread agreement among Americans on three stances related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: support for tougher sanctions against Moscow, opposition to direct US military intervention, and distrust of President Biden’s handling of the crisis.
The CNN survey found that 58 percent of Americans answered “not much” or “not at all” when asked how much they trusted Biden to make the right decision about Ukraine, while just 42 percent answered a “great deal” or “moderately.” A further breakdown showed that 34 percent of respondents answered “not at all” and 24 percent answered “not much,” while just 13 percent said they had a “great deal” of belief in the president.
While 84 percent of Democrats trust Biden to make the right calls, just 9 percent of Republicans and 37 percent of independents feel the same way.
By contrast, 91 percent of Republicans, 63 percent of independents and 16 percent of Democrats don’t believe Biden has what it takes to handle Europe’s biggest crisis since the end of the Cold War.
While Biden lacks popular support for his handling of the situation, a whopping 83 percent of respondents favor increased sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, with just 17 percent opposing.
Backing for additional penalties against Moscow is consistent across the political spectrum, with 84 percent of both Democrats and Republicans as well as 81 percent of independents supporting tougher measures.
More than three-fifths of Americans — 62 percent — also think the US should do more to stop the Russian military, but most won’t go as far as putting American troops in Ukraine.
If the sanctions fail to deter Russia, 58 percent say they would oppose the US taking military action, while 42 percent would support an intervention.
Once again, the poll finds a majority of Democrats and Republicans in agreement on the question, with 56 percent of respondents from both parties saying “no” to boots on the ground. Among independents, 60 percent say the US military should stay out of Ukraine.
The poll also finds four out of five Americans (80 percent) are “very or somewhat worried” that the war in Ukraine will lead to a larger conflict in Europe, compared to just 20 percent who say they are “not too or not at all worried.”
With sanctions leading to the prospect of rising gas prices, 37 percent of Americans say that should be a “minor” factor in determining US policy toward Russia while 34 percent think that should be a “major” factor and 29 percent saying that should not be a factor at all.
Biden has repeatedly said he will not send US troops into Ukraine, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, has ruled out creating a no-fly zone over Ukraine despite requests from the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We’re not going to put American troops in danger. That means we’re not going to put American troops in the air as well, but we will work with the Ukrainians to give them the ability to defend themselves,” Thomas-Greenfield told CNN Sunday.
The poll surveyed 1,011 adults between Feb. 25 and 26 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
