Very disturbing that the most gung-ho are Millenials and Gen Zer’s. These are presumably the demographics more inclined to look at alternative media, yet they seem to have imbibed the establishment narrative on Ukraine the most. On the other hand, boomers appear to be the most opposed while Generation X (my generation – apparently the invisible generation) is not mentioned at all. – Natylie
By Ellie Cook, Newsweek, 8/2/23
Almost a third of Americans support U.S. troops being sent to war-torn Ukraine, according to a new poll.
A total of 31 percent of eligible voters in the U.S. support or strongly support American military forces heading to the battlefields of Ukraine, polling conducted exclusively for Newsweek by Redfield & Wilton Strategies has revealed.
A quarter of respondents neither supported nor opposed the idea of sending U.S. soldiers to Ukraine, with 34 percent against the suggestion. Just under one in ten respondents did not know.
The Pentagon said it had no comment to make when contacted by Newsweek about the results of the poll.
The U.S. is by far Ukraine’s biggest backer in terms of military aid. Since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, Washington has pledged more than $43 billion in security assistance to Kyiv. But the Biden administration has said since the early days of the conflict that U.S. soldiers will not be heading to the front lines in Ukraine.
A total of 1,500 people participated in the online poll, carried out between July 25 and July 26.
In the poll, those identified as “Millennial,” between 27 and 42 years old, were most likely to “strongly support” committing U.S. troops to Ukraine. However, more respondents born between 1997 and 2012 said they would support the measure overall, 47 percent saying they supported or strongly supported sending U.S. troops.
Nearly a third of respondents aged over 59 said they opposed pledging U.S. troops to Ukraine, with a further 25 percent “strongly” opposing the suggestion.
Just four percent of “Gen Z” respondents, aged between 18 and 26, said they felt strongly against sending U.S. troops.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden said U.S. military forces “are not and will not be engaged in a conflict with Russia in Ukraine.”
Biden said U.S. forces would be transferred to Europe, but they were not heading to the continent “to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO allies and reassure those allies in the east.”
“As I made crystal clear, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with a full force of American power,” Biden said at the time.
However, Ukraine is not part of the alliance, despite loud calls from Kyiv to be allowed to join and promises from NATO that Kyiv could become a member state further down the line.
Under Article 5, NATO members are obligated to treat an attack on one state as an attack on all, and this is one of the reasons for the hesitancy about allowing Ukraine to become part of NATO while it is still at war with Russia.
In the polling for Newsweek, 47 percent of respondents said they either supported or strongly supported Ukraine being admitted into NATO, with just 15 percent saying they opposed Kyiv’s membership. A further 29 percent expressed neither support nor opposition, and 10 percent did not know.
Just over a quarter said NATO should admit Ukraine immediately, whereas 37 percent believed Ukraine should become a NATO state after the war with Russia has finished.
On July 13, Biden said he had authorized an additional 3,000 reserve troops to be sent to Europe.
“This reaffirms the unwavering support and commitment to the defense of NATO’s eastern flank in wake of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine,” U.S. Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims told a Pentagon media briefing.
These soldiers “are not additional forces” but will “augment what we already have there,” he said, adding their activities will be decided by the U.S. European Command.
In mid-April, ABC News reported that a “small U.S. military special operations team” had been operating from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv since the early days of the war, but that they did not approach the front lines, citing a former and a current U.S. official.
On November 1, 2022, Pentagon Press Secretary, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told media that U.S. forces were at the embassy, but Washington had “been very clear there are no combat forces in Ukraine, no U.S. forces conducting combat operations in Ukraine.”
“We have U.S. Marines at the embassy doing normal U.S. Marine-type guard duties,” Ryder said. “These are not combat squads that are going out.”
The tune would change quickly if U.S. troops actually entered Ukraine. The Russians would fight a very different war than the one they’re fighting now, and the Yanks would be annihilated. The Pentagon is smart enough to understand this, even if the politicians and media whores aren’t. But since it’s the younger generation that seems to be spoiling for a fight, let them sign up. So long, suckers.
Newsweek’s framing of this story betrays its neo-con prejudice. If we assume the poll is legitimate (and I see no reason to make that assumption), 31% of Americans are eager for US troops to fight Russia in Ukraine, while 34% are opposed to this.
So the correct headline should be, “US troops should not be sent to Ukraine, more than one third of Americans say.”
Lots of brain dead folks out there due to drinking the Kool-Aid
of course there is a reality divide here:
While those young people like openly to claim these positions, in Germany its similiar I guess, the willingness to go to the armed services is at a historic low.
While before 2022 appeals to not be conscripted were at about 200 p.a. in Germany, they will likely have risen to 2000 by end of this year.
You could call it hypocritical. Being in favour of war but not be willing to give their own blood.
On the other hand people know more about the truth of war than before WWI.
The fact of not-knowing the geopolitics of it is another matter, namely propaganda and lack of education.
What do people in school learn about RU???
What do the media tell them about the true nature of this war???
Since alternative media means not only this site or Scheer or the others – there are tons of pro-war sites well designed and intelligently omitting the facts. I call them honey traps because they make their users feel all cuddly being on the right side of it all.
I was surprised so few boomers were up about it considering many of them probably have MIC stocks in their retirement/410k plans. That’s a good sign, though there may be negative reasons behind it. They could be concerned that a lot of deaths of Americans could bring support for the war spending down even further, impacting their stocks.
The youth think it’s all like those games they play on-line, plus so few of them are actually in the military. Their ignorance of the difference between what happens on World of Tanks vs. reality is shocking. Many of the YouTube sites predicting the destruction of Russia are starting to drift or change their focus on China, but the damage to their credibility is only starting to kick in. Another 4 months or so and I expect things will change, and of course the polling companies will re-frame their questions in a way that favors the newest flavor of how to exploit the USD’s printing privileges.