Two in five Americans approve of how President Biden has handled Russia and Ukraine

Washington, DC, March 1, 2022 - A new Reuters/Ipsos poll, fielded February 28 through March 1, 2022, follows up with Americans regarding their feelings on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and President Joe Biden’s handling of the situation. Over four in five (85%) Americans say they are familiar with the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, while 13% say they have just heard of it. American public opinion about Biden's handling of the crisis has improved notably from last week, although a majority still disapproves. Presently, two in five Americans approve of the way President Biden has been handling Russia (40%) and Ukraine (43%). This represents an eight- and nine-point increase, respectively, from last week (32% for Russia, 34% for Ukraine).

Only a third of Americans (34%) still agree with the idea that Ukraine’s problems are none of our business, down fourteen points from last week (48%). An increased proportion of Americans agree that paying more for fuel and gas because of sanctions against Russia is worthwhile to defend another democratic country (58% vs. 49% last week) but most remain hesitant to take military action in Ukraine given the current economic climate (56%).

American resolve against Russia appears to be strengthening. Americans are slightly less willing to have the United States continue its diplomatic efforts with Russia this week (63% vs 72% last week) and more believe that the U.S. should put additional economic sanctions in place against Russia (77% vs 69% last week). Over two-thirds of Americans (68%) now believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is most to blame for the current situation between Russia and Ukraine. This represents an eighteen-point increase from last week (50%). Some of that blame has been taken off of Biden (who saw a six-point decrease in blame compared to last week (10% vs 16%), as well as from those who were previously not sure (15% now vs 24% before). 

However, Americans are still reluctant to send troops to Ukraine or to have the U.S. use air strikes to support the Ukrainian army (both 37%). They are far more willing to have the United States provide Ukraine with weapons (71%).

See here for previous results. See here and here for more details from Reuters.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between February 28 and March 1, 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. The sample includes 426 Democrats, 389 Republicans, and 118 independents. 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 poll also has a credibility interval of ± 5.8 percentage points for Democrats, ± 6.1 percentage points for Republicans, and ± 11.0 percentage points for independents.  

The results of this survey are trended against the results from another Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted February 22-23, 2022. That survey had a sample of 1,004 Americans age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii interviewed online in English. The poll was accurate to within ± 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Americans been polled

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]

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