Americans worry about Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine and oppose using U.S. troops.
WHY IT MATTERS: With the war approaching the one-year mark, Congress has already authorized $100 billion in aid, and President Joe Biden has grown more willing to provide advanced offensive weaponry, such as tanks.
- This could be interpreted as an escalation of U.S. involvement.
THE NUMBERS: A Rasmussen poll of 1,000 registered voters revealed stark partisan splits on how the United States should move forward and broad worries about the war escalating.
Voters were asked, “Should Congress continue to provide funding and weapons to Ukraine?”
- 43 percent – “Yes.” (67 percent among Democrats)
- 38 percent – “No.”
- 20 percent – “Not Sure.”
Specifically, voters were asked about tanks and fighter jets:
- 55 percent support the decision to send tanks to Ukraine (34 percent oppose)
- 44 percent favor sending U.S. fighter jets to Ukraine (42 percent oppose)
WORRIES ABOUT U.S. INVOLVEMENT – The survey also revealed:
- 62 percent are worried that Russia will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine
- 60 percent of voters think it is likely that the invasion of Ukraine will lead to a broader war between Russia, Europe, and the United States
- 54 percent say it is more important to keep the United States out of a wider war with Russia (including 64 percent of Republicans), compared to 31 percent who say it is more important to help Ukraine (including 49 percent of Democrats)
- 70 percent of Americans oppose sending U.S. soldiers to Ukraine (including 75 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of Democrats)
- 48 percent say it is very or somewhat likely American soldiers will eventually be sent into battle
BOTTOM LINE: Americans support helping Ukraine, but there are severe caveats and worries about escalation. Most notably, Republicans (61 percent) and Democrats (68 percent) are concerned that Russia will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
This Counterpolling™ survey of 1,000 Registered Voters was conducted online by Scott Rasmussen on January 31-February 2, 2023. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of Registered Voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 3.1 percentage points.