USA: According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday, 65% of Americans now support continuing military assistance to Ukraine, up from 46% in May. However, other polls reveal a decline in support for President Joe Biden's pledge of limitless arms for Kiev.
This week's earlier poll found that 56% of Republicans and 81% of Democrats agreed that Ukraine should be armed. This outcome is consistent with the situation in Congress, where Biden's Democrats have almost universal support for the delivery of weapons, while the GOP is divided between an establishment that supports the delivery of weapons and a pro-Trump, isolationist wing that is opposed.
According to the Russian Security Council, Ukraine launched a costly counteroffensive against Russian forces in the weeks between the two surveys, losing about 13,000 soldiers as well as hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles. It is unclear, though, whether these defeats or other incidents, such as the weekend mutiny and march on Moscow by Wagner Group leader Evgeny Prigozhin, have contributed to the apparent rise in popularity.
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The poll "definitely reinforces Biden's decision to be all-in on this," according to former US ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, and will likely reassure Republican lawmakers that supporting the establishment GOP position is the politically wise course of action.
Compared to other recent polls, which show a steady decline in support for Biden's Ukraine policy, this one stands out. According to data released by Pew Research last week, 28% of Americans now believe that the US is providing "too much" aid to Ukraine, up from 7% in March of last year, when Russia began its military operation. In the same time frame, the percentage of respondents who feel that the current level of aid is "not enough" decreased from 42% to 16%.
39% of Americans "strongly" or "somewhat" approve of Biden's handling of the conflict, according to Pew research, while 35% disapprove.
According to a poll released late last month by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, 50% of US adults still support sending weapons to Ukraine, down from 61% in May 2022. In comparison to 40% in March 2022, only 26% of US adults believe their government should play a "major role" in the conflict, according to the poll.
The US has announced four weapons packages for Ukraine worth a combined $1.5 billion between the most recent two Reuters surveys. The Pentagon stated that these packages' contents would come from US military stockpiles, and an additional $2.2 billion would be spent.
Since last February, the US has provided Ukraine with direct military assistance totaling more than $40.5 billion as of Tuesday.
