(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) Most Americans believe that President Joe Biden‘s weak leadership led to Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s decision to invade Ukraine and that former President Donald Trump would have thwarted the invasion, Summit News reported.
The HarrisX poll found that 58% of Americans, including most Republicans and a large majority of independents, think that Biden encouraged Putin to invade Ukraine by stalling economic sanctions until after the invasion and then by slow-walking them.
“Voters believe that Biden has projected weakness to Putin with the slow rollout of economic sanctions,” said Dritan Nesho, the chief pollster and CEO of HarrisX. “If the Ukraine crisis drags on and is top of mind leading to the midterms, it looks like voters—especially independents—will punish Democratic leaders for slow and tepid actions.”
Even more Americans—62%—said that the invasion would not have occurred under Trump’s leadership.
The poll’s results bode well for Republicans in 2022, though it is unclear whether the corporate media will keep the nation’s attention on Ukraine for long, given its unfavorability toward the Democratic Party.
More than a third of voters, 36%, said the Russia–Ukraine War makes them more likely to vote Republican, while 24% said it makes them more likely to vote Democrat.
Another 31% of voters said it will not affect their choice in 2022.
While the Biden administration sees inflation and skyrocketing gas prices as the perfect opportunity to push so-called green energy, more than two-thirds of voters, 69%, want the federal government to expand domestic oil and gas production.
Gas prices have jumped to about $4.30 per gallon, with no end to the rise in sight, AAA reported.
In California, where the average gallon costs $5.70, those in Los Angeles have to pay more than $7 per gallon.
