Shock Poll: GOP Voters Overwhelmingly Say U.S. Doing ‘Too Little’ in Ukraine

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A surprising new Harvard-Harris poll takes a wrecking ball to the narrative that GOP voters are instinctually skeptical of U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine.

According to the survey, which was conducted this past Wednesday and Thursday and included 2,905 participants, 51% of Republican respondents say the Biden administration is doing “too little” to “counter Russia’s influence and its war in Ukraine.” That’s more than double the 24% of the same demographic that said it was doing “too much,” as well as significantly more than the 30% of Democratic who said the administration is doing too little to push back on Russia and assist the Ukrainians.

The shocking results of the poll stand in sharp contrast to those of others conducted over the past several months and challenges the logic of Republican presidential frontrunners who have advocated restraint in their suggested approach to the conflict.

Former president Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that U.S. involvement in Ukraine could lead to World War III, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently characterized the war as a “territorial dispute.” DeSantis clarified his comments and expressed his animus toward Russia in an interview with Piers Morgan earlier this week, but held fast to the idea that the U.S. should not “escalate more involvement.”

A Pew Research poll conducted in January returned much different results. At the time, 17% of Republicans believed the U.S. was not doing enough to assist Ukraine, while 24% said it was doing enough, and 40% said it was doing too much.

The results could, in part, be skewed by the difference in the two pollsters’ phrasing; while Pew referred to the country’s role in Ukraine, Harvard-Harris referred to the Biden administration’s.

Even accounting for the effect of negative partisanship triggered by the latter’s wording, however, it would seem to indicate flexibility – and a lack of strongly-held ideological commitments – in the Republican position on Ukraine.