Republicans split on Ukraine, plurality say war not a 'vital' interest: poll

Trump, for his part, has called for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine and offered to personally help negotiate an agreement.

By Ben Whedon

Published: March 21, 2023 4:51pm

Republicans are starkly divided over continued U.S. involvement in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, with a plurality saying the conflict is not of "vital" interest to America.

In a recent Morning Consult poll, nearly half (46%) of potential GOP primary voters said aiding the Ukrainian defense effort was "not a vital U.S. interest" while 37% said it was. A further 17% were undecided on the matter.

That sentiment appears nearly reversed in the broader electorate. Among all voters, 49% considered U.S. aid to Ukraine a vital interest, compared with 29% who did not. Twenty-two percent were undecided.

Republican frontrunners Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis have largely eschewed substantive aid to Kyiv. The Florida governor made headlines earlier this month after he provided a position statement to Fox News host Tucker Carlson in which he categorized the conflict as a "territorial dispute" and criticized the Biden administration's handling of the conflict.

"While the U.S. has many vital national interests... becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them," DeSantis said at the time. "The Biden administration’s virtual 'blank check' funding of this conflict for 'as long as it takes,' without any defined objectives or accountability, distracts from our country’s most pressing challenges."

Trump, for his part, has called for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine and offered to personally help negotiate an agreement.

On the whole, larger portions of Republicans indicated that the economy (75%), national security (69%), immigration (66%), taxes (62%), jobs (59%), and crime (58%) were of significantly greater priority to them than the conflict in Ukraine. On those matters, Republicans were largely in step with all voters, though there was a significant gap on immigration, which a more modest 53% of all voters prioritized.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.