Support for Aid to Ukraine is Waning

By MARK ANDERSON

Americans’ support for continued assistance to Ukraine—economic as well as military aid—is waning, according to a new survey. But ironically, Democrats are the holdouts, despite the Democratic Party’s tradition of embracing a pro-peace worldview.

This survey, conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA), compares responses from Republicans, Democrats, as well as Independents. It shows that those who identify as Democrats are the most zealous to keep pumping billions of US dollars into Ukraine.

From March of 2022 when the Russia-Ukraine conflict started (85% of those surveyed approved) until February of 2024 (78% approved), Democrat respondents (with past CCGA surveys included for continuity) maintained the highest level of approval for such economic aid.

Republicans’ support dropped most sharply, from 74% supporting economic aid in March 2022 down to 40% in Feb. 2024. Independents went from 75% to 54%.

As for sending US arms to Ukraine: Dems went from 83% to 75% in the same time period; Republicans, 80% to 45%; independents, 79% to 54%.

Interestingly, Democrats also are the most supportive of sending US troops into the Ukraine-Russian conflict. Democrats’ support to send US troops there went from 42% to 35%; Republicans, from 34% to 21%; independents, from 33% to 26%. {Ukraine leaders have not requested US troops.]

Clearly, support is dropping among all respondents regarding any kind of Ukraine aid. It’s just that the Dems have maintained the most support.

This survey of 1,039 voting-age adults was conducted with the help of the Lester Crown Center on US Foreign Policy, an institution within the CCGA. The research firm IPSOS took part, too. Lester Crown is the son of the late Henry Crown, founder of General Dynamics, a major defense contractor. The CCGA’s CEO, Ivo Daalder, is a former US envoy to NATO.

So while the survey suggests that Republicans have traded places with Democrats as being the most reluctant to go to war—an interesting development, given the overly worshipful view most Republicans have of the military—another intriguing twist is that there is strong support across the board for Ukraine to join NATO. Only the Dems’ support actually went up, from 80% to 83%, from March 2022 to Feb. 2024.

But if you’re a NATO member, an attack on one member is an attack on all, meaning that if Ukraine joins NATO, the US would be obliged to enter the conflict versus Russia; yet, the republicans and independents surveyed gave a resounding “NO” to the US directly committing troops to Ukraine under its current non-NATO status.

The CCGA claims this disparity arises from general public ignorance of how NATO works.

But the “take away” here is that the clear intent to make Ukraine a full NATO member could bring World War III with it. Thus, the time for serious reflection is now. It might be wise to deny Ukraine full NATO membership to avoid a wider war—a war that would be immensely profitable to defense contractors if the US were to directly involve itself.

Is there a potential conflict of interest, given the Crown family’s defense-tech background and its involvement in this survey? Is Mr. Daalders’ NATO background an issue? You be the judge.

One thing is crystal clear. Think tanks like the CCGA, although they publish scholarly, useful work, tend to be heavily plutocratically connected, running the gamut from big pharma to major defense contractors that sponsor their conferences.

Mark Anderson is a veteran journalist who divides his time between Texas and Michigan. Email him at truthhound2@yahoo.com.

From The Progressive Populist, April 1, 2024

Populist.com