Americans approve of sanctions against Russia, but are they working?

Linley SandersData Journalist
October 27, 2022, 8:31 PM GMT+0

Since February, the United States and its allies have coordinated a series of economic sanctions against Russia as punishment for invading Ukraine. The economic sanctions continue to be backed by most Americans (62%), according to the latest Economist/YouGov Poll, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans. That is consistent with the 64% of Americans who supported the sanctions when they were implemented in February.

While most Americans approve of the sanctions, they are split on whether the sanctions are having an effect on Russia. One-third (32%) say they are and the same share say they are not.

About one-third of Americans (33%) want their own government to be tougher on Russia when it comes to its invasion of Ukraine, but Americans are much more likely to say the U.S.'s European allies should be tougher (46%). Democrats and Republicans are in lockstep on this issue: They are similarly likely to say that the U.S. government should do more (35% and 36% respectively) and that other countries need to do more (45% and 50%, respectively). In both cases, members of each party are more likely to want tougher responses than less tough ones.

As has been the case since September, Americans are more likely to say that Ukraine (29%) than Russia (13%) is winning the war. However, even more Americans (36%) believe that no one is winning the war — a share that has risen over the last two weeks (from 25% earlier this month). Americans also believe by a margin of 31% to 18% that Ukraine will be the eventual winner of the conflict, rather than Russia.

–Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article

Polling by the Economist/YouGov was conducted on October 22 - 25, 2022 among 1,500 U.S. adult citizens. Explore more on the methodology and data for this Economist/YouGov poll.

Image: Getty Images (Paula Bronstein)