A new NBC News poll revealed a significant gap between American voters’ sympathies in the Russia-Ukraine war and their perception of where President Donald Trump stands.
About 61% of the US registered voters say their sympathies lie with Ukraine, while only 2% favor Russia, according to the survey published on 17 March. The remaining 35% Americans sympathize with neither side.
When asked about Trump’s position, 49% of voters believe the president favors Russia, compared to just 8% who think he supports Ukraine. Forty percent say Trump favors neither country.
“I cannot recall a moment in history when American public opinion and voters’ views of a president, as to which country they are more aligned with, have been more in conflict with each other,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted the poll with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.
The survey showed clear political divisions. Democrats support Ukraine (88%), while Republicans are more divided, with 57% saying they favor neither country. Education creates another split within the GOP, as 53% of college-educated Republicans support Ukraine, but 62% of Republicans without college degrees favor neither side.
About 61% of Republicans want America to focus domestically rather than asserting global strength, up from 47% in March 2022.
“The president is creating an alignment with his own political base,” said McInturff. “You’re watching a shift. He is dragging his own political base in terms of his current rhetoric and position.”
Overall, 55% of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine war, while 42% approve.
American voters view Ukraine and Zelenskyy much more favorably than Russia and its president Vladimir Putin. The poll shows 46% of voters have a favorable view of Zelenskyy, compared to just 3% for Putin. Similarly, 41% view Ukraine positively, while only 6% feel the same about Russia.
To compare, in March 2022, Pew Research found that 77% of Americans supported placing strict economic sanctions on Russia, and similar majorities approved sending military equipment to Ukraine (around 70% among Democrats and 60% among Republicans).
By August 2022, Gallup reported that 66% of Americans supported helping Ukraine reclaim its territory, even if it prolonged the war.
Gallup Polls from late 2024 showed that 52% of Ukrainians prefer negotiating an end to the war as soon as possible, while 38% want to continue fighting until victory. This represented a significant change from earlier years: in 2022, 73% supported continuing the fight, and in 2023, this number was 63%.
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