Fewer than one in six Americans want U.S. soldiers deployed to defend Ukraine if Russia invades the country, according to a new poll published on Friday, as high level talks got underway in Geneva.
A poll from Convention of States Action (COSA) in partnership with the Trafalgar Group found that just 15.3 percent of likely general election voters believed the U.S. should provide troops as "boots on the ground" in the event of an invasion.
The figures came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for talks in Geneva with tensions between Russia and Ukraine remaining high.
The COSA/Trafalgar Group poll was conducted from January 12 to 14 among 1,081 likely general election voters and has a margin of error of +/-2.98 percent.
The Trafalgar Group enjoys an A- rating from poll tracker FiveThirtyEight.
Respondents were asked what level of involvement the U.S. should have if Russia invades Ukraine.
Deploying troops had the lowest level of support, while 31.1 percent of respondents supported providing supplies and weapons.
A further 30.5 percent agreed that the U.S. should provide "only diplomatic area pressure," while 23.2 percent supported the U.S. providing military advisers if there were an invasion.
Support for boots on the ground was low among Democrats, Republicans and no party/other respondents, but Republicans were more in favor of deploying troops than Democrats.
Just 12.6 percent of Democrats favored boots on the ground, compared to 16.4 percent of Republicans, while that figure was 18.1 percent for respondents who identified as no party or other.
Both Democrats and Republicans broadly preferred sticking with diplomatic pressure, with 30.7 percent of Democrats and 35.4 percent of Republicans favoring that option.
The next most popular option was providing military supplies and weapons. Republican support for that action stood at 31.9 percent and 29.5 of Democrats also approved of it.
Respondents in the no party/other category were more in favor of providing military supplies, at 32.5 percent support, than on relying only on diplomatic pressure, which garnered 22 percent support among this group.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have both warned that Russia will face consequences if the country invades Ukraine. The president said Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, would "pay a heavy price" if an invasion takes place.
"I've been absolutely clear with President Putin. He has no misunderstanding. If any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion," Biden said.
"It would be met with severe and coordinated economic response that I've discussed in detail with our allies, as well as laid out very clearly for President Putin," he said.
Biden ruled out deploying U.S. troops to Ukraine in December and he didn't revisit the topic in comments this week. However, the president has said more U.S. troops will be deployed to NATO countries in Eastern Europe such as Poland and Romania if Russia invades. Ukraine is not a member of NATO.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
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