A shift in Americans’ willingness to pay more for Russia sanctions

A separate poll by the Economist and YouGov conducted a few days later found a smaller 40 percent supported additional sanctions on Russia if it caused gas prices in the U.S. to rise.

But after another week of Russian attacks in Ukraine, national polls show that the public has unified more in support for sanctions on Russia, and one survey finds a clear majority are willing to absorb higher prices at the pump.

An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Friday found that 83 percent of Americans support the economic sanctions placed on Russia by the U.S. and its European allies, 16 percentage points higher than support in the earlier Post-ABC poll. Support for sanctions was similarly high in post-invasion polls by CNN (83 percent supported sanctions) and CBS News/YouGov (76 percent).

In all of these polls, clear majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents supported sanctions, despite sharp differences in approval for President Biden’s handling of the situation.

The conflict in Ukraine will have expected and unexpected consequences – from oil production to the cost of sunflower oil used in food. (Lee Powell/The Washington Post)

The NPR/PBS/Marist poll included a follow-up question asking whether people who supported sanctions “support or oppose the economic sanctions placed on Russia if it results in higher energy prices in the United States.”

That survey found 69 percent of U.S. adults supporting sanctions even if they result in higher energy prices, significantly higher than 51 percent in the Post-ABC poll last week. The two polls used nearly identical language in this follow-up question, giving confidence that this reflects a real shift in opinion.

Willingness to incur higher energy costs crosses party lines, with 80 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of independents and 58 percent of Republicans saying they support sanctions even if they cause higher prices. In the Post-ABC poll last week, fewer than half of Republicans (44 percent) and just about half of independents (51 percent) supported sanctions if it meant higher energy costs. Only among Democrats did a clear majority support sanctions if they entailed costs to the U.S. (62 percent).

The latest poll results suggest that Americans have grown more committed to punishing Russia after that country’s increasing attacks on Ukrainian cities, the resistance of Ukrainian leaders and civilians and vocal support for sanctions by Biden and Republican leaders.

The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll was conducted March 1-2 among a random national sample of 1,332 adults reached by cellphone and landline, with interviews begun after Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. The Post-ABC poll was conducted Feb. 20-24 among a random national sample of 1,011 adults also reached by cell and landline phones; the error margin for overall results is plus or minus four points.

Emily Guskin contributed to this report.

Source: WP