Few Americans Want The United States Involved In Ukraine Crisis, Poll Shows

Few Americans Want The United States Involved In Ukraine Crisis

Few Americans want the United States getting involved in policing the political turmoil in Ukraine, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds, even though a plurality say they think Russia's military incursion into the country qualifies as an invasion.

Americans are more likely than not to say that the United States has no responsibility to get involved in Ukraine even under extreme circumstances, the new survey shows. Forty-six percent said the United States has no responsibility to protect Ukraine in the case of a Russian invasion, while only 18 percent said it does. Thirty-six percent said they weren't sure. Pluralities of Democrats, Republicans and independents agreed that the U.S. does not have a responsibility to protect Ukraine.

By a 42 percent to 17 percent margin, a plurality of Americans in the poll, which was conducted as events in Ukraine were unfolding over the weekend, said that Russia has already invaded Ukraine. Forty-one percent said they're not sure.

Russia moved troops into the largely Russian-speaking Ukrainian region of Crimea after protesters in the capital of Kiev forced out pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich last week. Russian officials have said they are just protecting the people in Crimea, but observers have expressed worry that Russia may move troops further east into Ukraine to destabilize the government.

Whether they think Russia has invaded or not, the poll shows Americans are of two minds on Russia's behavior. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they think Russia is behaving aggressively in Ukraine, while 49 percent think Russia is "just looking out for its own interests." Thirty-one percent of respondents said they think both of those things.

Americans are divided on whether they think the international community in general has any responsibility to get involved with Ukraine. Thirty percent said it does, while 28 percent said it does not. On the other hand, 42 percent said they weren't sure.

Respondents were also largely uncertain about who exactly in the international community should get involved, if anyone. Only 14 percent of respondents said that the U.S. had any responsibility to do so. And people were only slightly more likely to say that the United Nations (20 percent) or European Union (18 percent) have a responsibility to get involved. Fifteen percent said NATO should get involved, and 9 percent said Russia itself has a responsibility to ease the situation.

Another 44 percent said they weren't sure who, if anyone, should get involved.

Only 17 percent said they've been following the Ukraine story very closely. Forty-one percent said they're following it somewhat closely, while 42 percent said they're not following it closely at all.

The HuffPost/YouGov poll was conducted March 1-2 among 1,000 U.S. adults using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.

The Huffington Post has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov's nationally representative opinion polling.

Before You Go

Vincent Mundy/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Protestors inspect damage caused by recent anti-government protests on Independence Square following recent clashes in Kiev, Ukraine, on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. Violence is escalating in the country of 45 million as the Russian-backed leader's security service conducts a nationwide anti-terrorism operation to end the three-month uprising.
BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images
Protesters catch fire as they stand behind burning barricades during clashes with police on Feb. 20, 2014, in Kiev. Ukraine's embattled leader announced a 'truce' with the opposition as he prepared to get grilled by visiting EU diplomats over clashes that killed 26 and left the government facing diplomatic isolation. The shocking scale of the violence three months into the crisis brought expressions of grave concern from the West and condemnation of an 'attempted coup' by the Kremlin.
Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

A wounded anti-government protester is treated by medics near Independence Square on Feb. 20, 2014, in Kiev, Ukraine. After several weeks of calm, violence has again flared between anti-government protesters and police, with dozens killed.
AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
An anti-government protester is engulfed in flames during clashes with riot police outside Ukraine's parliament in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014.
BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

A demonstrator stands on a balcony overlooking Independence square during the face-off against heavily armed police on Feb. 20, 2014, in Kiev. Armed protesters stormed police barricades in Kiev on Thursday in renewed violence that killed at least 26 people and shattered an hours-old truce as EU envoys held crisis talks with Ukraine's embattled president. Bodies of anti-government demonstrators lay amid smoldering debris after masked protesters hurling Molotov cocktails and stones forced police from Kiev's iconic Independence Square.
Getty Images

A wounded anti-government protester is carried to a waiting ambulance on Feb. 20, 2014, in Kiev, Ukraine. After several weeks of calm, violence has again flared between anti-government protesters and police, with dozens killed.
BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

Dead bodies lay covered on the ground during clashes with riot police in central Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014, in Kiev. At least 26 protesters were killed on Feb. 20 in fresh clashes between thousands of demonstrators and heavily armed riot police in the heart of Kiev, AFP correspondents at the scene said.
Getty Images

Anti-government protesters clash with police in the center of Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014.
Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Anti-government protesters clear ashes and debris from a newly occupied portion of Independence Square on Feb. 20, 2014, in Kiev, Ukraine.
LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images

An anti-government protester sits on the Founders of Kiev monument during clashes with riot police in central Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014. At least 26 protesters were killed on Feb. 20 in fresh clashes between thousands of demonstrators and heavily-armed riot police in the heart of Kiev, AFP correspondents at the scene said.
VOLODYMYR SHUVAYEV/AFP/Getty Images

Anti-government protesters stand behing their burning barricades during clashes with police in the center of Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014. At least 25 protesters were killed on Feb. 20 in fresh clashes between thousands of demonstrators and heavily armed riot police in the heart of Kiev, Agence France-Presse correspondents at the scene said. The bodies of eight demonstrators were lying outside Kiev's main post office on Independence Square, an AFP reporter said. The bodies of 17 other demonstrators with apparent gunshot wounds were also seen in the vicinity of two hotels on opposite sides of the protest encampment.
AP Photo/ Marko Drobnjakovic

An anti-government protester holds a crucifix as he prays at Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, on Feb. 20, 2014. Ukraine's protest leaders and the president they aim to oust called a truce on Feb. 19, just hours after the military raised fears of a widespread crackdown with a vow to defeat "terrorists" responsible for seizing weapons and burning down buildings.
BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

A heavily injured anti-government protestor is carried by fellow demonstrators during clashes with riot police in central Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014.
VOLODYMYR SHUVAYEV/AFP/Getty Images

Anti-government protesters stand behind a 'wall of smoke' during clashes with police in the center of Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014. At least 25 protesters were killed on Feb. 20 in fresh clashes between thousands of demonstrators and heavily armed riot police in the heart of Kiev, Agence France-Presse correspondents at the scene said.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot