A sizeable majority of Americans back President Donald Trump’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine war, according to new polling data from CNN.
In addition, far more Americans support Trump’s approach to the conflict than those who supported now-former President Joe Biden’s handling of it.
“So I think the easiest way we can kind of just ask this is, do Americans like the way that Trump is handling his job, and compare it to how they felt about Joe Biden,” CNN data analyst Harry Enten said during a show segment on Monday.
“So this is the net approval rating. You look at Joe Biden back in 2024, he was 22 points underwater. Holy cow. You look at Donald Trump. It‘s just a different planet entirely. I mean, the gulf between these two is wider than the Gulf of America or Mexico, depending on which side of the aisle you stand on. He‘s at plus-two,” Enten continued.
“So, look, at this particular point, Americans are giving Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt. He‘s doing considerably better than Joe Biden was doing on the handling of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. And so on this simple question, I think Americans are saying, ‘Okay, Donald Trump is doing all right on this,’” he said.
Host Kate Bolduan then asked, “What about specifically on how they feel about bringing the war to an end?”
“So, you know, look, questions on this can be quite complicated, but I think this kind of gets at sort of where the American trend line is. Americans on the Russia-Ukraine war want a quicker end of the war, but Russia keeps its captured land. Look at this: 50 percent. Fifty percent, [a] bare majority…coming in here,” Enten continued.
“Support Ukraine‘s right to fight, even if it means a longer war, that‘s at 48. This is very, very close. But the trend line on this question is so important because that ‘Want a quick end of the war,’ look at this, you go back to August of 2022, it was at 31 percent,” he said. “Now we‘re at 50 percent. I mean, that is a rocket ship upwards in terms of the Americans who want a quick end to the war, even if it means Russia keeps the captured Ukraine land.
“Americans are moving closer and closer to wanting a compromise, even if it means that Ukraine doesn‘t really get what it set out to want, at least at the beginning of this war,” he added.
WATCH:
Vance opened up on Monday night about the tense Oval Office meeting last week during an appearance Monday evening on Fox News with host Sean Hannity.
Below is a transcript of the exchange:
Hannity: “Let’s go back to the Oval Office Friday, from your perspective?”
Vance: “Yeah, great TV, as the president said.”
Hannity: “Yeah.”
Vance: “It was — well, you know, it’s funny. So, we have a 40, 45-minute press conference, and the president normally does this, and I’ve seen this now 3 or 4 times with foreign leaders, where he likes to bring the media in, likes to have a conversation, but answer questions with the press. As you know, he’s very open with reporters. And what I noticed is that for the first 25, 30 or so minutes, he tried to sort of bend over backwards to be gracious and kind to Zelenskyy. Even when Zelenskyy was kind of needling him, even when Zelenskyy was saying things that I thought were untrue, the president just tried to be diplomatic. Right? I think that’s his natural instinct in that situation. And then when it really went off the rails, of course, is when I asked — or you had a Polish journalist who asked a question, the president answered it, and then I answered it. And then something about my answer just really sets Zelenskyy off, so then he came at me.”
