Do people in US support Ukraine aid? Polls find divide as funding remains in jeopardy

Congressional funding for aid to Ukraine stands in limbo as public support for further funding slips, according to recent polls.

On the eve of a government shutdown, Congress passed a last-minute stopgap measure to continue funding the government on Sept. 30, ensuring the wheels in Washington would keep spinning.

The bill, passed with bipartisan support, funds the government until Nov. 17. However, it does not include additional funding for the war in Ukraine, a Biden administration priority resisted by a growing contingent of GOP lawmakers.

“I support being able to provide the weapons to Ukraine, but America comes first,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told CBS News on Oct. 1.

The U.S. southern border needs to be secured — potentially by building a border wall and altering asylum laws — before further funding for Ukraine can be granted, said McCarthy, a Republican from California.

“More Americans are dying on our border than Americans are dying in Ukraine,” McCarthy said.

President Joe Biden, in a speech at the White House on Oct. 1, pushed back against McCarthy’s demands, urging lawmakers to act quickly to provide additional funds for Ukraine.

“We cannot under any circumstances allow America’s support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden said. “I want to assure our American allies and the American people and the people of Ukraine that you can count on our support. We will not walk away.”

Do Americans support more funding for Ukraine?

Americans are largely divided over the amount of aid being sent to Ukraine, recent polls show.

In a September ABC News poll, 41% of respondents said the U.S. is sending too much aid, 31% said the U.S. is sending the right amount, and 18% said too little is being sent.

When broken down by political ideology, Americans largely reflect the partisan split in Washington with liberals being more in favor of aid than conservatives.

A majority of conservatives, 62%, said the U.S. is doing too much to support Ukraine, according to the poll, while only 17% of liberals said the same.

Over time, however, one trend has transcended party lines. As the war grinds on, both groups have lost some of their appetite for further aid.

The percentage of liberals who said too much aid is being sent has nearly doubled since April 2022, while the percentage of conservatives who said the same has more than tripled, according to the poll.

The trend of waning support for further assistance was also borne out in a series of CNN polls.

In February 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion, one poll found 62% of respondents said the U.S. “should have been doing more.”

Over a year later, in a July CNN poll, 55% percent of respondents said Congress should not provide further support for Ukraine, while 45% said it should authorize the funding.

A Pew Research Center poll from June further found diminishing support for aid to Ukraine across time and across party lines.

Seven percent of respondents said the U.S. was providing too much aid in March 2022, while 28% said the same in June 2023. Still, 31% of respondents said the current amount of aid was the right amount, and 16% said it was not enough.

The U.S. has sent more than $43.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, according to a Sept. 21 State Department news release. Much of that money has gone toward providing the Ukrainians with weapons, including aircraft, tanks and missiles.

The U.S. has provided the lion’s share of military aid to Ukraine, while the European Union has committed the most financial aid, according to Statista, citing the Kiel Institute, a German nonprofit.

This story was originally published October 2, 2023 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Do people in US support Ukraine aid? Polls find divide as funding remains in jeopardy."