Poll: Republicans less hawkish than Dems on Ukraine

A new Yahoo! News survey suggests that, at least when it comes to Ukraine, the traditionally hawkish Republicans have become far less eager for military conflict.

When asked what issue should be President Biden's top priority, 32 percent of Democrats answered "Russia and Ukraine" compared to only 15 percent of Republicans.

Among Republican respondents, 28 percent said the U.S. should take "neither" side in the conflict. Only 13 percent of Democrats said the same.

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More than one-fifth of Republicans said the U.S. should respond to the invasion with "neither more economic sanctions nor military force" compared to only 8 percent of Democrats.

Writer William Saletan argued at The Bulwark that "the problem isn't just that rank-and-file Republicans are relatively reluctant to stand up to Putin. It's that they don't recognize their own passivity."

"They still think they represent a muscular foreign policy," he continued. "In every survey, they complain that Biden has been 'too weak,' and they insist — more than Democrats do — that the United States must get 'tougher.' But then, when they're asked about measures that would actually get tougher, they flinch."

The survey gathered responses from 1,623 U.S. adults and was conducted between March 10 and March 14.