Half of U.S. public approves of continued weapons deliveries to Ukraine
LA TimesU.S. airmen load pallets with materiel bound for Ukraine in April 2022 at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Like the blue-and-yellow flags that popped up around the U.S. when Russia invaded Ukraine 15 months ago, American popular support for Washington’s backing of Ukraine has faded a little but remains widespread, a survey by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and NORC shows. “I feel the support is still strong,” Ambassador Oksana Markarova said, even as tensions with China, domestic politics, mass shootings and other news often top the Ukraine war in U.S. news coverage these days. “But I feel the very strong bipartisan support.” When it comes to specific kinds of U.S. backing for Ukraine, popular support for U.S. sanctions against Russia has experienced the most significant drop, falling from 71% a year ago to 58% this spring, although that’s still a majority. Ron DeSantis drew criticism this spring for dismissing Ukraine’s fight against Russian forces as a “territorial dispute.” The remark was associated with a drop in support for DeSantis, a prospective Republican presidential candidate.