Nearly two-thirds of Americans want the US to continue sending weapons to Ukraine — even as the Trump administration tries yet again to negotiate an end to the almost four-year-old war, a new poll of national security priorities has found.
The Reagan National Defense Survey, released Thursday, found that 64% of Americans favor sending lethal aid to support Kyiv’s government, up nine percentage points from last year and the highest proportion since the Russian invasion began in February 2022.
Slightly more (65%) support giving Ukraine long-range cruise missiles, such as Tomahawks, to allow strikes deep inside Russian territory — while 68% support selling American-made weapons to European allies, who would then provide them to Ukraine.
Unlike in 2024, a majority of Republicans (59%) support sending weapons to Ukraine to fight off Russia’s invasion, up from 44% last year. Three-quarters of Democrats support aiding Ukraine, up from 68% one year ago.
In other issues related to Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, a plurality of Americans (45%) support Ukraine’s “full territorial liberation” from Russia, while 23% say Kyiv should cede territory in exchange for “peace and security guarantees” and 22% favor a cease-fire along the current battle lines.
Meanwhile, nearly seven in 10 Americans (69%) favor the US and Europe providing Ukraine with a collective defense commitment similar to NATO’s Article V and almost three-quarters (74%) favor establishing a demilitarized zone controlled by European forces with the support of US airpower.
“These findings show that Americans’ bipartisan commitment to Ukraine has strengthened over the past year,” said the Ronald Reagan Foundation & Institute, which conducted the survey. “The public favors a strategy which combines sustained US support, European burden-sharing, and credible deterrence over territorial concessions or premature disengagement.”
The survey results were released two days after Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.
The pair were set to update a Ukrainian delegation in Miami Thursday evening, but there was no immediate word on how those talks progressed.
Ukraine President Voldymyr Zelensky said in a video address Thursday that Kyiv wanted to know “what other pretexts Putin has come up with to drag out the war and to pressure Ukraine.”
Elsewhere, a plurality of Americans (48%) see China as the nation posing the greatest threat to America, with Russia a distant second (26%).
With that in mind, 60% say they support commiting US forces to defend Taiwan should Chinese President Xi Jinping attack the island nation, as he has indicated he will do — with 62% favoring establishing a no-fly zone over Taiwan and shooting down Chinese planes.
Nearly three-quarters (74%) support imposing economic sanctions on China should an invasion occur and 79% favor recognizing Taiwan as an independent country if that happens — rejecting Washington’s current “One China” policy.
The survey polled more than 2,500 Americans by phone and online between Oct. 23 and Nov. 3, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 1.96 percentage points.
