Americans are willing to pay more for gasoline to help a fellow democratic country

Washington, DC, March 8, 2022 – The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll on the security crisis in Ukraine shows Americans would like political leaders to provide a united front supporting Ukraine, ahead of domestic political rivalries (80%). The survey also shows three in five Americans (63%) continue to be willing to pay more for gasoline to continue to support a democratic country, including a large majority (80%) who support stopping oil and gas purchases from Russia.

Among those who say they are willing to pay more for gasoline, a quarter say they would be willing to pay as much as it takes to continue to support another democratic country, 11% would be willing to pay more than $2 a gallon more than they are currently, and 32% are willing to pay between $1 and $2 more per gallon. Seventy-four percent of Americans say the United States should take in refugees from the current conflict, and 65% of those say they support immediate entry into the United States and providing housing upon arrival.

More than two in five Americans approve of how President Joe Biden is handling Ukraine (45%), and 40% approve of how he is handling Russia. A similar number approve of how he is handling U.S. foreign policy (40%) and the U.S. economy (40%), but just 29% of Americans approve of how he is handling fuel and gas prices. These numbers are statistically unchanged from last week.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between March 7-8, 2022. For this survey, a sample of 1,005 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii were interviewed online in English. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Americans been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. 

The results of this survey are trended against the results from two other Reuters/Ipsos surveys:

1. Conducted February 22-23, 2022 with a sample of 1,004 Americans, accurate to within ± 3.8 percentage points.

2. Conducted February 28-March 1, 2022 with a sample of 1,005 Americans, accurate to within ± 3.8 percentage points.

3. Conducted March 3-4, 2022 with a sample of 831 Americans, accurate to within ± 4.2 percentage points.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

Annaleise Lohr
Director, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos is the world’s third-largest Insights and Analytics company, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts, and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions, and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers, or employees. We serve more than 5,000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.