Americans Reject Trump's Views on Ukraine
While claiming he's acting with a "huge" mandate, a new poll shows Americans overwhelmingly reject his choices on Ukraine.
Americans overwhelmingly reject the Trump Administration’s approach to the war in Ukraine. They believe Russia is at fault, Moscow will violate a ceasefire, Ukraine needs real security guarantees, Ukraine and Europe should be part of any negotiations, and the US should continue to send military and economic aid to Ukraine. That’s according to a new poll conducted for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs published today.
Despite the months-long effort by President Trump to negotiate an end to the fighting, the gap between what the majority of Americans think about the war and Trump’s approach is deep and wide across almost every issue. Let’s count the ways:
Trump has said that Ukraine “started the war.” Americans disagree. Almost nine in ten Americans (86%) blame Vladimir Putin a great deal or fair amount for the war. Only 33 percent blame Zelenskyy. Even Republicans overwhelmingly (89%) blame Putin, though 53 percent also blame Zelenskyy.1
Trump has pushed for a 30-day ceasefire to the war, strong-arming Ukraine to agree by cutting off military aid and intelligence sharing. Putin rejected the idea in his call with the president on Tuesday. While Americans broadly support (80%) a ceasefire, just 20 percent think Russia will respect it (compared to 76% believing Ukraine will do so).
Trump and other senior officials have made clear that they think Ukraine will need to cede territory to Russia in return for peace. Americans strongly disagree. Just 19 percent of Americans (and less than a quarter of Republicans) agree that Russia should keep the territory it currently occupies.
Trump reportedly is considering recognizing Crimea as Russian and push the United Nations to do likewise, even though Moscow illegally annexed the territory in 2014. Only about a third of Americans (38%) think this would be an acceptable condition for a peace agreement.
Trump has said that Ukraine can “forget about” joining NATO, which would provide the war-torn country with the kind of strong security guarantee necessary to ensure Russia abides by any agreement. Less than four in ten Americans (38%) think it would be wise for Ukraine to give up the option of joining NATO to achieve a peace; and 60 percent favor Ukraine’s admission to NATO.
Trump has said that Europe should provide Ukraine with security guarantees and that the United States would have no part in that. Yet, if Russia violates the peace agreement and restarts conflict, nearly six in ten Americans (57% ) believe that both the US and Europe should “promise to send troops to enforce” a peace agreement.
Trump has said that the Europeans need to bear the burden of helping Ukraine, not the United States. Again, Americans disagree with nearly six in ten (58%) believing the United States and Europe are “equally responsible” for defending Ukraine.
Trump and his advisors have rejected the idea of Ukraine or the Europeans joining the peace talks the US and Russia are conducting. But 69 percent of Americans think the negotiations should be between Russia, Ukraine, the US and the European Union; just 3 percent think these should be conducted only by the US and Russia.
Trump has given no indication that he will continue to send economic and military aid to Ukraine, frequently complaining that the US has done too much and needs to be repaid. Americans, however, continue to favor sending aid by large margins, with 55 percent favoring sending additional economic aid and 52 percent supporting sending additional arms and military supplies to Ukraine.
Trump is clearly out of step with the majority of Americans when it comes to Ukraine. Republican sentiment has shifted towards the president’s views, but even among his partisans a sizable section of Republican opinion favors the course the US set back when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They blame Putin, not Zelenskyy for the war. They favor military and economic aid for Ukraine to help defend itself. They see Europe and the US equally responsible for helping Ukraine. They want strong security guarantees for Ukraine, including NATO membership, to ensure any peace holds. And they believe a peace must be negotiated by all the parties—not just by the US and Russia.
The responses add up to over 100 percent because the question asked respondents “How much, if at all, do you blame each of the following [Putin, Zelenskyy, NATO, the US] for the war between Russia and Ukraine.”
The issue becomes, what if they are never planning to have another free and fair election? Then what the public wants doesn’t really matter. I fear that is where we are headed.
I lived four years in Russia. They have elections but everyone knows they won’t change anything. Usually when previously democratic countries fall into autocracy there is some deep financial crisis that precipitates it. That is not the case here. People are willingly foresaking democracy for no obvious reason.