"Priority of Economic Issues Including Inflation"
[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] More than seven out of ten Americans oppose the Biden administration taking a leading role in the Ukraine crisis.
According to a joint poll conducted by the Associated Press (AP) and the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center (NORC) from the 18th to the 21st, surveying 1,289 adults, only 26% of Americans said the U.S. should play a major role in the Ukraine crisis. Meanwhile, 52% responded that the U.S. should play a 'supporting role,' and 20% said it should play no role at all.
A 67-year-old man living in Tennessee raised his voice, saying, "The White House should focus on lowering oil prices." He added, "The Biden administration is trying to spend millions of dollars to stop a war that has nothing to do with us," and said, "It's unfortunate that they (Ukraine) got caught up in the mess, but it's not our problem."
The Biden administration has argued that supporting Ukraine is the way to defend America's fundamental values. The AP explained, "The Biden administration sees this crisis sweeping through U.S. politics, but for voters ahead of the November midterm elections, economic issues such as inflation are a higher priority."
By party affiliation, 32% of Democrats said the U.S. should play a leading role, which is 10 percentage points higher than the 22% of Republicans who said the same.
Among all respondents, 43% said they support President Biden's handling of relations with Russia, down from 49% in June last year.
While Americans are reluctant to have the U.S. take a leading role in this conflict, they expressed concern that Russia's influence could pose a threat to the U.S. The percentage of respondents who said they are 'very concerned about Russia's influence' rose to 53%, up 6 percentage points from 45% in August last year.
Regarding trust in U.S. intelligence agencies, 23% said they 'trust them very much,' 52% said they 'somewhat trust them,' and 24% said they 'hardly trust them.'
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