A new Rutgers-Eagleton poll released today finds that New Jerseyans generally favor some amount of American involvement in Ukraine, which Russia invaded late last month, but there seems to be little consensus on what that involvement might look like. The poll was in the field from February 25 – the day after the invasion began – until March 4.
36% of respondents said they want the United States to play a major role in the “situation between Russia and Ukraine,” as the poll phrased it, and another 37% said they want the U.S. to play a minor role; just 21% said they want the country to play no role at all, and 6% said they don’t know.
But when respondents were asked whether they supported “sending additional U.S. troops into Eastern Europe to try to discourage further Russian invasion of Ukraine,” the result was more mixed. 46% said they supported such a move, while 43% said they opposed it.
“New Jerseyans mostly echo national views on the U.S.’s role when it comes to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Rutgers-Eagleton director Ashley Koning said in a release accompanying the poll. “But with New Jersey having one of the largest Ukrainian populations in the country, residents here are slightly more likely than Americans nationwide to want to see the U.S. play a major role in the conflict and send additional troops.”
While support for sending troops was bipartisan – 52% of Democrats and 51% of Republicans indicated support – just 41% of independents supported such action. Respondents ages 18-34 were also far less likely to approve of additional troops, with 38% saying they supported doing so.
The poll did not ask questions about other specific policies, such as implementing sanctions on Russian oil (which President Joe Biden has announced he will do) or entering into a direct military conflict with Russia.
The Rutgers-Eagleton poll was conducted from February 25-March 4 with a sample size of 1,044 New Jersey adults and a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.