December 22, 2023 - 10:20am

More Americans support sending further military aid to Ukraine than to Israel, according to a Quinnipiac poll published on Wednesday. 

Net support for increased funding for Israel has dipped underwater, with 45% backing and 46% opposing the measure. A month earlier, the same pollster found that 54% of Americans supported further aid, with 39% opposing. Meanwhile, the corresponding figures for sending further military aid to Ukraine are currently 55% and 38%.

Israel has historically been the leading recipient of American security assistance, receiving about $3.3 billion in military funding and $500 million in cooperative missile defence programmes annually. But Ukraine has surpassed Israel in recent years, bringing in $44 billion since Russia’s invasion last year. President Joe Biden has urged Congress to allot an additional $61.4 billion for Ukraine’s defence and $14.3 billion for Israel’s as part of a security authorisation package, but those talks have stalled, with Republicans conditioning further Ukraine aid on increased border security. 

Support for Ukrainian aid has been on a slow decline over the past year. Only 22% of Americans believed the US was doing too much to help Ukraine in August 2022, but that number grew to 44% by October 2023, according to Gallup. American support for Israel spiked after the 7 October Hamas attacks and has been on the decline since. What’s more, 40% believe Israel has gone too far in its military response in Gaza. 

The issue falls along partisan lines, with 77% of Democrats and 42% of Republicans supporting further Ukraine aid, compared to 65% of Republicans and 36% of Democrats backing the same for Israel, the Quinnipiac poll found. Republicans in particular have been sceptical of providing further funding to both conflicts, and so far there has been no sign of a breakthrough in negotiations with Democrats.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer described the talks as “among the most difficult things we’ve done in recent memory”. Earlier this week he said that “everyone knows that something should be done to fix our broken immigration system, but we can’t do so by compromising our values. Finding the middle ground is exceptionally hard.”


is UnHerd’s US correspondent.

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