The Biden administration’s seemingly endless supply of finance and weaponry to Ukraine is starting to wear thin with some Americans, a poll released Wednesday outlines, as domestic problems ranging from the rising cost of living to the porous southern border and free ranging Chinese spy balloons confront sympathetic yet frustrated voters.
The polling numbers released though the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research arrived as the Russian invasion nears a grim one-year milestone and U.S. funding runs into tens of billions of dollars with no off ramp in sight.
U.S. officials have also reportedly been telling representatives from Kyiv in private they face losing broader Western support unless they make significant gains on the battlefield.
In all 48 percent of those polled say they favor the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, with 29 percent opposed and 22 percent saying they’re neither in favor nor opposed.
That compares to May 2022, less than three months into the war, when 60 percent of U.S. adults said they were in favor of sending Ukraine weapons, AP reports.
Americans are split on sending government funds directly to Ukraine, with 37 percent in favor and 38 percent opposed and 23 percent saying neither.
The signs of diminished support for Ukraine come as President Joe Biden sets off for Poland next week to mark the first anniversary of the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II.
He travels as back at home issues like inflation and the soaring cost of living hit voters hard and the nation’s own security is being challenged by Chinese spy balloons.
Watch below as Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) warns the U.S. can’t “Get so ahead of the Europeans” on Ukraine aid they leave American taxpayers to foot the entire bill.
The AP polling notes Biden has repeatedly stated the United States will help Ukraine “as long as it takes” to repel Russian forces that began invading on Feb. 24 of last year.
Privately, administration officials have warned Ukrainian officials there is a limit to the patience of a narrowly divided Congress — and American public — for backing a war with no end, the report further sets out.
Congress approved about $113 billion in economic, humanitarian and military spending in 2022 and shows no sign of easing, as Breitbart News reported.
The poll shows just 19 percent of Americans have a great deal of confidence in Biden’s ability to handle the situation in Ukraine, while 37 percent say they have only some confidence and 43 percent have hardly any.
The poll of 1,068 adults was conducted Jan. 26-30 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
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