American public support for aiding Ukraine is softening as the one-year mark of Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine approaches, according to a new AP-NORC poll. Only 37% of Americans are in favor of sending government funds directly to Kyiv, while 38% are against it.
The poll also shows that 48% of Americans still support providing weapons to Ukraine, but that’s a 12-point decline from the 60% of Americans who backed supplying Ukraine weapons in 2022, according to the Associated Press.
This diminishing support follows the $113 billion price tag for aid to Ukraine paid by U.S. taxpayers last year. As a result, some in the GOP are pushing for a complete halt of U.S. military and financial aid to Ukraine. At least 11 House Republicans are now pushing a non-binding resolution urging “all combatants to reach a peace agreement.”
Despite the decreasing support, some Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., continue to advocate for continued aid to Ukraine.
“The cost of defeating Putin is a good investment in stability of the world at large,” Graham said. “I don’t want to live in a world where people can take things of others without consequence.”
Meanwhile, U.S. and western officials have said the number of Russian troops killed or wounded in Ukraine is approaching 200,000, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Mark Milley has said Russia is losing.
“They’ve lost strategically, they’ve lost operationally, and I repeat they lost tactically,” General Milley said.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Poland next week to mark the first anniversary of the conflict.
