The
two-day poll that was concluded on Tuesday charted a sharp rise
in backing for arming Ukraine, with 65% of the respondents
approving of the shipments compared with 46% in a May poll.
Eighty-one percent of Democrats, 56% of Republicans and 57% of
independents favor supplying U.S. weapons to Ukraine, according
to the latest poll.
The survey was conducted just days after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the
head of the private Wagner mercenary company, launched and then
called off a mutiny over what he charged was the Russian defense
ministry's mishandling of the war in Ukraine.
The findings appeared to provide firmer backing for U.S.
President Joe Biden's policy of doing "whatever it takes" to
assist Ukraine in recapturing territory that Russia seized in an
initial assault in 2014 and its full-scale invasion 16 months
ago.
"This definitely reinforces Biden's decision to be all-in on
this," said William Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine
now with the U.S. Institute of Peace.
"The Republican leadership of the House and Senate will also
take heart from this," Taylor said. Some right-wing Republican
lawmakers have opposed continuing U.S. military support for
Ukraine.
The Biden administration has approved 41 weapons packages for
Ukraine totaling more than $40 billion since Russian President
Vladimir Putin launched what he calls "a special military
operation" in February 2022.
The online Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted nationwide,
collecting responses from 1,004 adults, including 400 Democrats
and 383 Republicans. It had a credibility interval, a measure of
precision, of about 4 percentage points in either direction.
The poll found that 76% of Americans believe that providing aid
to Ukraine demonstrates to China and other rivals that the
United States has "the will and capability to protect our
interests, our allies and ourselves."
In other findings, the survey said large majorities of Americans
- 67% and 73% - are more likely to support a candidate in next
year's U.S. presidential election who will continue military aid
to Ukraine and one who backs the NATO alliance.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by Jason
Lange; Editing by Don Durfee and Grant McCool)
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