President Donald Trump shocked the establishment of foreign policy by completely overturning America's status against the Ukrainian-Russian War and turning on fledgling democracy while giving a friendly overture to Ukrainian invaders Russia.
The US has provided the total US$136 billion in military assistance that Ukraine has received from its allies since Russia invaded in 2022. However, this week, Trump made the sudden decision to suspend all US aid in Ukraine and end the intelligence reporting relationship between the two countries following an explosive Ovarian Bureau meeting with Ukrainian President Voldy Mirzelenki.
It has shocked Washington's foreign policy facilities and US allies around the world. They have long seen Ukrainian sovereignty as the key to protecting European security and Western democratic ideals. Even Trump's Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a longtime Ukrainian supporter, was reportedly surprised by the dramatic changes he had made from the White House.
But outside of Washington, US support for Ukraine was as unpopular with voters as elected officials. And many Republicans and independents cheered on Trump, and for a long time they were skeptical of funding foreign wars.
Trump is not necessarily in response to public opinion, and has personal reasons to distance himself from Zelensky. Remember the infamous 2019 call with the Ukrainian president that led to Trump's bounce each. But Trump's stance on Ukraine symbolizes his trade-in isolationist approach to US foreign policy, if not beltway elite, that appears to resonate with a wide range of US voters.
How Washington and the US public opinion diverged and converged in Ukraine
Shortly after the Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine had fierce advocates even among Republican Congress members, with Americans widely supporting Ukraine on a bipartisan basis. In March, 42% of Americans thought the US, including 49% of voters who leaned towards the Republican Party, did not provide sufficient aid to Ukraine, according to the Pew Survey.
However, within months, its support began to decline among Republican voters. By that fall, only 16% of Republican-leaning voters thought the US was not offering sufficient support. 32% thought they were offering too much.
In 2024, post-poll polls showed that support for Ukraine had further collapsed between Republicans and independents.
It coincided with Trump's growing criticism of Ukraine and Europe's response to the war on the 2024 campaign trail. He promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of his inauguration and to force European countries to repay the US to the US for military aid to Ukraine. He claimed that Zelenskyy was the “salesman” who persuaded the US to provide endless financial support to Ukraine. And he continues to threaten to withdraw from NATO, which will leave Europe without security guarantees in the face of brave Russia.
Since his re-election, Trump has reflected the points of Russia's story, accusing Zelensky of being a “no-election dictator” and falsely claiming that Ukraine has begun a war. Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 and no elections have been held in Ukraine since the Russian invasion.
A poll conducted last month shows that Stark factions are split on and on what conditions under which the US should support Ukraine, and on whether Republicans and independents support a massive support for Trump's approach.
A CBS/YouGov poll found 68% of Republicans and 49% of independents said the US should not send military aid to Ukraine. Only 28% of Democrats said the same thing.
Gallup polls found that 54% of Republicans, 56% of independents and 84% of Democrats have a positive view of Ukraine.
A Harvard Cap/Harris poll found that a majority of Republican and independent voters have approved Trump to negotiate directly with Russia to end the war in Ukraine. But Democrats and independents did not support refusing mainly Ukrainians and European leaders from those debates, whereas Republicans did.
Polls say that most Republicans and independents believe that Ukraine's security guarantee should be conditioned on countries that share income from mining rare earth elements with the US, but most Democrats disagree. Neither the majority of Democrats nor independences said that Ukraine should be forced to make territorial concessions as part of a peace deal. The majority of Republicans did.
The former Russian Hawks of GOP are now quiet
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers and executive officials line up behind Trump's agenda.
Republican lawmakers are opposed to another round of Ukrainian aid as part of budget negotiations. Even Rubio thanked Trump for “putting America first” and “putting” to X after an oval office meeting with Zelensky, and criticised the Ukrainian president for attempting “the Ukrainian race on all issues” in an interview with ABC.
Other former Ukrainian defenders of Parliament have since changed their songs. They include Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who recently proposed that Zelenkie should resign, and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who claims that Biden is “seducing” Ukrainian invasion after pushing former President Joe Biden to send more arms to Ukraine.
It brought them closer to the everyday American views. However, the price may come with respect to Ukraine, as well as for the Western world order, where Europe may exist alone in defending Russian aggression.
