Confused? Look Within.
Terry H. Schwadron
April 22, 2022
We’re so busy blaming our political leaders for not solving problems for us that we may forget to look at ourselves as a source of confusion.
A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows 54% of Americans think Biden has been “not tough enough” in his response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, even as most approve of steps the U.S. is already taking and few want U.S. troops to get involved in Europe’s war.
A little over a third, 36%, think Biden’s approach has been about right, the Associated Press reports, while 8% say he’s been too tough.
Now, there is a limit to what polls can tell us, even when run by reputable organizations, and the results often depend on the wording of the question, whose landline telephone is being reached and the standard 4% margin of error.
Nevertheless, what we have in this polling must be a confusing message to the Biden administration, to Ukraine, to Russian aggressors and to the political parties scrambling to find a popular message about the war that advances their own election goals.
Over time, the trends across several polls have been similar: As the war has started to drag on, American enthusiasm for defending Ukraine has dropped somewhat, but not a ton. Still, what Americans seem to want is to help from afar rather than send U.S. troops, and the number of people, including several Republican senatorial candidates, who think the U.S. should bow out altogether remains stubbornly present.
In a month, the number of polled Americans seeking major involvement has dropped from about 40% to 32%, while the percentage of those who want to keep our involvement “minor” has remained the same.
Television and Reality
Meanwhile, we’re watching television reports daily about Russian troops shelling and starving the citizens of Mariupol, razing apartments and hospitals. And we’re hearing any number of Biden critics on all sides demanding yet more involvement. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) finally uttered aloud the obvious, that at some stage, the United States will have to consider putting its own troops into the proxy war on Ukraine.
Russia President Vladimir Putin seems to have no limits to cruelly starve Ukrainians in the targeted eastern regions or create safe evacuation lanes for civilians. Russians even bombed Jose Andres’ emergency food services operations in their zeal to extend fear and dominance across Ukraine. Amid all the conflict and bombing, Putin had public tests of a new intercontinental ballistic missile to rattle yet another saber towards Western allies and setting off the predictable round of would-be explainers for another act that defies rational understanding.
Putin may be doing a better job of gauging American hesitance about entering or fully supporting a war in Europe even than Biden or Republican leadership.
There are similar tensions in the European countries as well. Though inflation and prices are a considerable issue, Sunday’s election in France is widely seen as a test of support of this alliance against Russia’s aggression since rightist Marine Le Pen has aligned herself with Putin and wants to withdraw support, while President Emmanuel Macron is a defender of Ukraine.
As with covid, masks, inflation, immigration and so much more, we want the war in Ukraine to simply go away by itself rather than resolving towards direct involvement. In the meantime, it remains public sport to criticize whoever sits in the White House for not changing the channel after 22 minutes.
Our greatest American creation is not jazz or technology, but a polished sense of self-serving impatience.
Complications and Splits
Building and maintaining an alliance to counter Russian aggression is a full-time job by itself. So is arming the Ukrainians with what they say they need. On top of that, the Biden administration — and the Western alliance generally — says it wants to stay a step short of provoking a volatile Russia from a nuclear-armed world war.
Naturally, then, despite standing congressional ovations for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, we have debate in Washington about timing and content about the nature of our support. Summary polls with black and white positions ultimately may not be helpful to setting the best policy.
The White House has authorized more than $2 billion in weapons and led Western sanctions that have crushed the Russian economy. Biden has ruled out sending U.S. troops — all of which has been supported by a majority of Americans. The U.S. has also held back in supplying used Russian MIG jets through third countries or from clearing the Ukrainian skies because that would require engaging directly with Russian pilots and Russian-based anti-aircraft missile sites.
If you believe this poll, 57% of Americans say they believe Putin has directed his troops to commit war crimes and want a reaction in turn — but only 22% say they favor deploying U.S. troops to Ukraine to fight against Russian forces, while 55% are opposed. Another 23% say they are neither in favor nor opposed.
Most Americans are in favor of the U.S. sanctioning Russia for the invasion, providing weapons to Ukraine and accepting refugees from Ukraine into the U.S. More Americans also support than oppose deploying U.S. troops to Eastern Europe to support U.S. NATO allies in response to Russia’s invasion, and about two-thirds say NATO membership is good for the U.S.
The number of Americans who favor sanctioning Russia even at the price of facing rising gas pump prices has dropped slightly over the last month, but still reflects a narrow majority.
If we’re confused, our leadership will be confused too.
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