A new poll has found that 35 percent of Americans support U.S. military action supporting Ukraine, even if it risks nuclear conflict with Russia.
The Pew Research Center survey found comparable numbers of people in both parties (36 percent of Republicans, 35 percent of Democrats) who favor risking a nuclear war.
"However, most Americans (62%) say they would oppose the U.S. 'taking military action even if it risks a nuclear conflict with Russia.' About a third (35%) of Americans say they would favor military action in this scenario," the Pew pollsters report.
Large majorities of both parties reported that they favor keeping large numbers of U.S. military forces in NATO countries near Ukraine in response to the conflict — a view held by 75 percent of Republicans and 81 percent of Democrats.
The survey additionally found that nearly half of Americans (47 percent) approve of the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict, while about four in ten (39 percent) disapprove, and 13 percent say they are not sure.
"Roughly a third of Americans (32%) say that the United States is providing about the right amount of support to Ukraine as it fights to hold off the Russian invasion. A larger share – 42% – say the U.S. should be providing more support to Ukraine, while just 7% say it is providing too much support. About one-in-five (19%) say they are not sure," the report explains.
There appears to be some bipartisan agreement about how much support the U.S. should be providing to Ukraine.
"While there are deep partisan divides in views of the administration’s response to the crisis, views on U.S. support to Ukraine are less divided. Nearly half of Republicans (49%) say the U.S. is providing too little support; 23% say it is providing about the right amount, and 9% think the U.S. is giving Ukraine too much support," the report adds. "Among Democrats, comparable shares say the U.S. is providing Ukraine about the right amount of support (39%) and too little backing (38%). Just 5% of Democrats say the U.S. is giving Ukraine too much support – roughly half the share of Republicans who say the same."
However, as Timcast reported in February, nearly 70 percent of self-described "liberals" believe that it is more important to "America's national interest" to defend the Ukrainian border than our own.
Rasmussen asked 1,000 likely voters, "which do you consider more important to America's national interest: Defending Ukraine against Russian invasion, or defending the U.S. border against illegal immigration?"
A majority of the respondents, 53%, chose “defending the U.S. border.”
However, when looking at the responses based on political affiliation, the results told a different story. Incredible poll coming up from @Rasmussen_Poll: Democrats care more about defending Ukraine’s border against Russia than America’s border against illegal migration - by a massive margin.The opposite for Republicans. Also only 31% of all voters think Biden is handling Ukraine well
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) February 25, 2022
"Rasmussen found a huge divide between Democrats and Republicans. While 74% of Republicans and 54% of independents said protecting the U.S. border was more important, 57% of Democrats chose Ukraine’s border over the U.S. border," the Washington Examiner reports. "What’s more, 67% of self-described 'liberals' chose Ukraine."
The new Pew Research Center survey was conducted March 7-13, 2022, among 10,441 U.S. adults and had a margin of error +/- 1.5 percent.
