A December 7-9 Morning Consult poll also found that more Americans preferred the United States rely on diplomacy (34%) and sanctions (22%) than direct military support (17%, along with 27% don’t know) “to reduce the likelihood of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.” These results are in line with Council findings from a May 25-Jsurvey conducted in the wake of the Russian invasion of Crimea. But Americans are generally against this idea, with 56 percent opposing and only 41 percent in favor. Another more muscular option is for the United States to provide weapons to Ukraine to help Kyiv defend itself in the event of a Russian invasion. These differences in support levels between the Council and YouGov-CKI survey could signal that American support for military action to defend Ukraine is soft, given that it appears that many Americans would choose a “don’t know” response to this question if it is available to them. …But Support Could Be Soft A YouGov-Charles Koch Institute survey, conducted in December 2021 after the recent increase in Russian troops at the border found that “if Ukraine is invaded again by Russia,” a plurality of Americans (48%) would oppose “going to war with Russia to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty.” Only 27 percent would favor going to war, and 24 percent indicate they don’t know.
This willingness to use force to defend Ukrainian borders seems driven more by distrust of Russia than a desire to protect a vulnerable country: a combined majority of Americans consider Russia a US adversary (39%) or a rival (26%), but only a third think that protecting weaker nations against foreign aggression is a very important US foreign policy goal (32%).
The July 2021 Chicago Council Survey, conducted before Russia amassed its troops outside Ukraine’s borders, found that a record high 50 percent of Americans said they would support “the use of US troops if Russia were to invade the rest of Ukraine,” up from 30 percent in 2014, just after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
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