Recent polling by the Economist/YouGov reveals that many Americans remain pessimistic about Ukraine’s long-term prospects in the war against Russia. And while the share of people who want the U.S. to take a tougher stance on the issue has declined in recent weeks, more still say they would prefer the country to take a stronger, rather than weaker, stance on the conflict.
When asked who is currently winning the war in Ukraine, more Americans see Russia ahead than Ukraine: 26% say Russia is winning, 16% say Ukraine is winning, and 38% say neither side is winning.
Americans’ outlook on who will eventually win the war has remained relatively stable over the past few weeks, with more (33%) believing Russia will win than Ukraine (22%); 15% believe it’s equally likely that Russia or Ukraine will win.
In terms of the U.S. government’s response, the share of Americans who say it should be tougher has reached its lowest point since YouGov began asking in March 2022. Today, 35% say the government’s response should be tougher, while 30% say the response is about right and 14% say it is too tough. In March, those figures were 45%, 22%, and 9% respectively.
— Kathy Frankovic, Carl Bialik, and Linley Sanders contributed to this article.
This poll was conducted on July 30 - August 2, 2022 among 1,500 U.S. adult citizens. Explore more on the methodology and data for this Economist/YouGov poll.
