UMD Critical Issues Poll: Public Support for Ukraine Jumps

Americans’ support for Ukraine is the highest it has been in more than a year, despite continued disagreement among Republicans and Democrats about whether U.S. funding for military aid to the nation is too much, too little or appropriate.

Nearly half (48%) of all respondents to the latest University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll—fielded July 26-Aug. 1 to 1,510 Americans—said that the United States should support Ukraine’s defense from the Russian incursion “as long as it takes,” including 37% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats, up 12 percentage points for both parties since an April 2023 poll, the first of four on this topic.

The latest poll on the conflict was conducted before Ukraine forces started invading the Kursk region of Russia earlier this month, which “may have impacted U.S. public support for Ukraine further,” poll director and government and politics Professor Shibley Telhami wrote in an article for the Brookings Institution, where he is a nonresident senior fellow.

“These findings are particularly surprising given the polarized state of American politics during an election year, and given that the Democratic and Republican campaigns have staked out very different positions on the issue,” said Telhami, who is also the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development.

He noted that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his pick for vice president, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, have said that they oppose providing further military aid to Ukraine, while Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has promised to continue U.S. support for Ukraine’s fight to expel Russian troops from the country.

In comparing overall responses to previous polls on whether Ukraine is winning and Russia is losing, the new poll found noteworthy drops since an October 2023 poll. Fewer respondents now think that Russia is losing (down seven percentage points from October), and fewer think that Ukraine is succeeding (down five percentage points).

There is a partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans on who is winning and who is losing the conflict: Twenty-six percent of Republicans and 37% of Democrats said Russia was failing, a difference of 11 percentage points between the parties. Additionally, 17% of Republicans and 29% of Democrats said that Ukraine was succeeding, a difference of 12 percentage points.

While there has been a four percentage-point decline since October 2023 in the number who said that spending is “about the right level,” there are also differences between Democrats and Republicans on funding for the conflict. Thirty-nine percent of Democratic respondents said that the current funding is appropriate compared to 15% of Republicans in the latest poll. Republican respondents far outnumber the Democratic respondents who said the spending was too much, 52% versus 16%.

Large shares of both Republicans and Democrats sympathize more with Ukraine than with Russia, 58% and 76%, respectively. Just 2% of respondents said they sympathize more with Russia.

“The increase in the number of Republicans who want the U.S. to support Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’ suggests that the starting point for Republicans, which is far more sympathetic to Ukraine than to Russia, has limited the impact of the political campaign on this issue,” added Telhami.