Recent polls show that Americans want to avoid war in Eastern Europe, but choose Ukraine over Vladimir Putin and Russia. President Biden’s diplomatic strategy is generally supported and the U.S. far-right pro-Russian position is an outlier.
YouGov Poll, Kathy Frankovic and Carl Bialik
- 74% Russia is serious threat to U.S., 60% so is Putin
- 58% support Ukraine, 8% for Russia in this conflict
- Only 13% say agree Ukraine can never join NATO (far-right position). For more on pro-Russia position, see Yahoo!News here.
- But don’t favor war, 56% say sending troops to fight Russia is a bad idea (12% good idea)
- 57% support Biden’s diplomatic effort
- 48% support deploying 3,000 troops to Eastern Europe
- 65% support sanctions if Moscow attacks Ukraine (68% Democrats, 63% Republicans)
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| Russian President Vladimir Putin at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing | Alexei Druzhinin /Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images |
Do Americans even understand that membership in NATO requires approval by all existing members, and that Bulgaria is a NATO member with long and deep affection for Russia. Bulgaria's entire existences as an independent nation rather than as a province of Turkey comes down to Russian military intervention on the side of the Bulgarian independence movement.
ReplyDeleteThis is no deep secret, it was openly discussed all the way back when Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, were admitted to NATO, and it was pointed out they maintain excellent relations with Russia, and they are highly dependent on them for trade. Ukraine will not join NATO because the members will not approve it. The Ukraine membership boat will never sail, because the boat never got built.