Polls show more US voters less supportive of Ukraine NATO bid
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According to Newsweek surveys, support among US voters for Ukraine joining NATO has declined in the previous three months.
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President Joe Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of a working session on Ukraine during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21, 2023. (AP)
According to Newsweek polls, US support of Ukraine joining NATO has dipped in the last 3 months.
Polls conducted exclusively for Newsweek by pollsters Redfield and Wilton Strategies suggest that American voters' support for Ukrainian NATO membership is waning.
Over 55% of respondents believed Kiev should join the alliance in a poll of 1,500 Americans eligible to vote in 2020.
Thirty percent "strongly" supported the proposal, 26% were indifferent, and 10% were opposed. Over 56% felt that Ukraine's defense was critical to American national interests.
However, a survey on July 25 and 26 with the same demographic revealed dwindled support for the country's joining the alliance.
Support dropped by 8 percentage points to 47% with 23% "strongly" backing the idea and 29% indifferent.
Those who opposed the membership increased by 6% to 16%, with 6% strongly opposed.
In contrast to April, Redfield and Wilton Strategies questioned Americans in their most recent survey regarding a timeframe for Ukraine's membership to the EU.
Over a quarter (26%) said Kiev should join right away, while 37% thought it should wait until the war was over. A little more than a tenth, or 12%, said Ukraine should never join.
The most recent survey also questioned if respondents would support US military soldiers being deployed to the country. Almost a third (31%) supported the move, with 12% saying "strongly", while 34% opposed it.
Ahead of NATO's summit in Vilnius, US President Joe Biden stated that the moment is not yet appropriate for Ukraine to join NATO and that if it does so now, "we're in a war with Russia." According to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, an assault on one member is an attack on all.
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After the Vilnius summit, former US ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker voiced a "contradiction" between the alliance's commitment to security and "its refusal to give Ukraine a clear pathway to membership."
NATO leaders crushed Zelensky's aspirations for a clear schedule for joining the alliance, saying they would only extend an invitation to join if "conditions are met."
At a NATO conference in Vilnius, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized that the alliance had never used "stronger language" to support Ukraine in its tough battle against Russia, although leaders vowed that "Ukraine's future is in NATO," vowing in a statement that they would extend an invitation to Kiev when conditions are met.
However, the refusal to move any further than a 2008 pledge on future membership proved to be a cruel blow to Zelensky, who was in Vilnius to push his bid further.
The West's determination to assist Ukraine was put into question because, despite repeated requests from Kiev, the country was refused immediate NATO membership and was not given a precise timeframe for entrance. Zelensky expressed his outrage on Twitter, saying it is "unprecedented and absurd" not to allow Ukraine to join the US-led military alliance.
Western officials have criticized Ukraine's comments regarding the pace of weapon transfers and other military aid. UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace stated that his country is "not Amazon" and that "people want to see a bit of gratitude."
Last week, Eritrean Permanent Representative at the UN Sophia Tesfamariam told Sputnik that the NATO alliance is using Ukraine as a "sacrificial death" to fulfill the alliance's interests.
According to the diplomat, NATO member states have been provoking Russia for over ten years before the special military operation was launched in Ukraine.
West ‘lucky’ that Ukrainians are dying on its behalf: Zelensky aide
Europeans should be grateful that Ukrainians are willing to fight Russia and die on the battlefield on their behalf, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky's senior advisor, Mikhail Podoliak.
“Europe is lucky that there is a country like Ukraine, which is ready to defend the common European way of life – dominated by competition, democracy, freedom, and so on – with the lives [of its soldiers],” Podoliak told Baltic news outlet Delfi in July, insisting that Russia “wants to drag all of us into a classic Soviet [prison] camp.”
