Americans fractured along party lines on Ukraine military funding: Survey

Americans are split along party lines on whether they support additional funding for Ukraine, as Congress remains in a standstill over the issue, according to a poll released Thursday.

The survey, published by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that overall, 37 percent of Americans believe the U.S. is spending too much money on aid to Ukraine. Roughly 33 percent said the amount of aid was “about right,” and 27 percent said it was too little.

As Republican lawmakers continue to push back on approving more aid to Ukraine, arguing that U.S. border security must come first, the partisan divide has seemingly become wider.

Fifty-five percent of Republicans said the U.S. was sending too much aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, which recently surpassed the two-year mark. Just under 30 percent of Republicans said the aid is about right, and 14 percent said it was too little.

Democrats were more likely to support continued aid, with 44 percent saying the U.S. has sent too little. Roughly 38 percent said It was about right, and 17 percent said It was too much, per the survey.

The poll also found that Democrats were more likely to see it as a priority for the U.S. to help stop Russia from gaining more territory in Ukraine and to help regain what has already been lost.

Fifty-eight percent of Democrats said it was extremely or very important for the U.S. to provide military aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, while just 24 percent of Republicans said the same. Thirty-six percent of Republicans said it was not too important or not important at all that the U.S. provide assistance.

The top four congressional leaders met with President Biden on Tuesday to discuss Ukraine aid. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) each characterized the meeting as “intense.”

Schumer and the White House have been urging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to allow the Ukraine aid bill — passed in a predawn vote in the Senate earlier this month — to receive a vote on the House floor. Johnson has pushed back on the package because it does not include border security provisions.

A bipartisan Senate border security deal, which included aid for Ukraine and Israel, was blocked by Senate Republicans and ultimately collapsed in early February, after Johnson said it was “dead on arrival” in the House. Now, lawmakers and the White House are scrambling to figure out how to send more aid to Ukraine.

The AP-NORC poll was conducted Feb. 13-18 among 1,161 adults and has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.