New Polls Reveal Americans Favor Ukraine, Dislike Trump's Russia Bias

An increasing number of Americans are expressing dislike of Trump's foreign policy, especially with regard to Ukraine - and that number has grown since the White House meeting at which he was perceived to have attempted to bully Zelensky.

Specifically, Americans do not appear to like his favoring of Russia or his hardball negotiations over Ukraine's mineral rights and growing numbers favor allowing Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia. It is questionable how long Trump can continue to pursue policies on this issue at odds with most of the US electorate. JL

Aaron Blake reports in the Washington Post:

Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the war 45% to 40% - worse than his overall approval rating. In contrast to Trump, Americans say they personally sympathize more with Ukraine than Russia by a 56 to 3 margin. Americans dislike Trump’s proposal to condition U.S. military aid on getting a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth, 50% to 46%. Americans who support Ukraine using U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia has increased from 52 to 57% today. Americans now disapprove of Trump's foreign policy by 13 points (50% to 37%).

President Donald Trump in his speech to Congress on Tuesday pitched his strategy to end the war in Ukraine — which is increasingly focused on pressuring and criticizing that country — as bearing fruit.

“I’m also working tirelessly to end the savage conflict in Ukraine,” Trump said. When he was jeered by Democrats for citing the amount of aid the United States had sent Ukraine, he retorted, “Do you want to keep it going for another five years?” Finally, he justified his softer touch with Russia than with Ukraine by saying, “If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides.” Russian invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Trump added that “we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”

We’ll see whether Trump’s strategy actually results in a deal that can pass muster. Ending the war is one thing; doing it on acceptable terms that don’t embolden Russia is quite another. But there’s increasing evidence that Americans are skeptical of his methods.

 

We’ve just received the first quality polling since Friday’s heated Oval Office blow-up between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump and Vice President JD Vance. And it’s not great for Trump.

A new Economist-YouGov poll shows Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the war 45 percent to 40 percent. That’s not a huge gap. But it’s worse than his overall approval rating, and it’s tied for his worst issue in what was otherwise a pretty decent poll for Trump.

In addition, just 21 percent strongly approve of his handling of the war, compared with 36 percent who strongly disapprove. Just 43 percent of Republicans strongly approve.

The story is similar in a Reuters-Ipsos poll. It shows Trump’s approval on the broader issue of foreign policy continuing to deteriorate. While Americans approved of Trump’s foreign policy by two points in January (39 percent to 37 percent), they now disapprove by 13 points (50 percent to 37 percent).

 

A key reason appears to be how Trump has talked about the war, an approach that Americans clearly disagree with.

Trump recently began his feud with Zelensky by accusing Ukraine of starting the war, despite Ukraine being invaded and despite Trump rarely casting such blame on Russia.

The Reuters poll found that Americans overwhelmingly disagree with this posture. They say, 70 percent to 9 percent, that Russia is more to blame. When asked separately whether both sides were “equally” to blame, Americans disagree 60 percent to 22 percent.

(It’s interesting that while many Republicans — 37 percent — agreed that both sides were equally to blame, that didn’t hold up when they were pressed on it. When asked in the other way, just 1 in 10 disputed that Russia was more to blame.)

There is also the question of whether this is truly about a strategy to end the war, or whether Trump actually sides with Russia. And Americans are increasingly convinced it’s the latter.

 

The Economist poll shows four times as many Americans saying Trump sympathizes more with Russia (43 percent) than say he sympathizes more with Ukraine (10 percent). That gap has been steadily widening.

And it’s worth emphasizing just how out of step that perception of Trump’s sympathies is with the American public. In contrast to Trump, Americans say they personally sympathize more with Ukraine than Russia by a 56 to 3 margin. It’s basically the complete reverse, and it suggests Americans decidedly don’t see Trump as being on the same page with them.

And these aren’t the only key findings that suggest this issue has moved away from support for Trump. The Reuters poll also finds that:

• Americans dislike Trump’s proposal to condition U.S. military aid on getting a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth, 50 percent to 46 percent.
• While in January 48 percent of Americans agreed that the “problems of Ukraine are none of our business, and we should not interfere,” that number has since dropped to 37 percent.
• The percentage of Americans who support Ukraine using U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia has increased from 52 percent in January to 57 percent today.

Other polling has shown that Americans are increasingly willing to support a negotiated settlement that ends the war with some territorial concessions to Russia. It’s early in Trump’s gambit, but they don’t necessarily like the way he has gone about trying to secure that.