5mo ago

British public thinks supporting Ukraine is more important than good relations with USA

Source is here: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2025/02/20/c33bd/1

That source allows you to see the results according to political affiliation. Pluralities of supporters of the Conservatives, Labour, and Lib Dems think that supporting Ukraine is more important.

The exception is Reform UK, whose supporters think that good relations with the USA are more important than supporting Ukraine.

48 comments

This American supports the priorities shown by the polling numbers.
We need more nations standing up to Trump, not more nations bending the knee. It doesn't just help you, it helps us.
- seriously. our coup government needs to be stopped
  
  It needs to be stopped from the inside. Your rapist leader needs to be put down like a rabid dog.
If it were an option, then it might be better to selfishly keep good relations with the US. But Trump will always try to extract as much as possible, regardless of 'good relations'. So the choice is really between helping Ukraine or not, knowing the US will be the same either way.
- it might be better to selfishly keep good relations with the US
  Or the UK could prioritise good relations with Europe instead, which the public seems to support (source for below image):
getting your thumb slammed in a door is more important than good relations with the usa
- The slime mold growing up the side of a seasonal creek down the road is more important than good relations with the USA...
What would be the point of sucking up to the current iteration of the US? They'll stab you in the back regardless.
It's a clear time to increase unity with Europe. I don't mean re-open any EU discussions, simply work with them on united response to Russian aggression.
- It's almost like the disunity with europe is part of some targeted effort
American here. Good.
Damn right.
If Ukraine falls it won't matter if you have good relations with US, because Russia won't stop there.
- Indeed. I really hope EU already knows this.
- Absolute insane suggestion that completely ignores the reasons why Russia invaded Ukraine in the first place.
  
  Hush, your bullshit only works in your echo chamber
I'm American, and I think that too.
- Came to say the same.
  Half of us think the country shits gold and the world will bend over.
  If you had a family member who behaved like we did, it would be time for an intervention.
  Christ, I'd rather see Boris Johnson as our president than what we have, at least he's Mr Bean level of political stupid. Ours is just vile hate and greed.
  
  Johnson would be better but his Mr Bean act is totally on purpose. He acts like that so you wouldn't think him capable of far right cruelty. I've read that he even intentionally messes up his hair before he goes in front of cameras.
Trump is [hopefully] a temporary problem.
Putin isn't going anywhere.
- Trump is a temporary symptom. The problem is that a third of the US sees his evil bullshit and fucking loves it; another third sees his evil bullshit and remains completely apathetic to it and can't be bothered to so much as waddle over to their mailbox to submit a ballot in opposition to it; and the remaining third is only given a lesser-evil option that comes with some seriously demotivating baggage like fucking genocide.
  And even if it's less genocide than the other guy, shit like that is always going to make a major dent in that third's turnout, paving the way for the situation we're in now.
  Even if Trump is actively being assassinated as I post this (yo, god: pretty pretty please?) some other evil bigot will fill the vacuum. Now, if he gets assassinated too, we might be on to something: sending the message that being an evil oppressive sack of shit comes with a major mortal liability is the short term fix we absolutely need, but we've all seriously underestimated the degree of enthusiastic evil in the average voter.
- Trump may be temporary, but the oligarch fascists flocking around him have realised how blatant they can act without facing any repercussions, and they will not relinquish this overt control of political power again, regardless of which president wins.
Fuck the current U.S. gov't. They're not interested in good relations with any of their allies. Russia is the true bed buddy.
Why is there a "Neither" option? I mean in practice "Neither" could mean to strike a perfect 50/50 balance. Or it could mean to antagonize both of them. Or it could mean "i don't really care". So what makes "Neither" a separate and relevant category to "Don't know", which could also mean "i don't know how to prioritize the two" or "i don't really care" or "what is an US and is it a newer model or older than the Ukraine?"
- "Neither" implies they have an opinion on the relative prioritisation of the US and Ukraine by the UK, and believe that both should be prioritised to a similar degree:
  "Don't know" implies they do not feel they know enough about the relationships the UK has with either country to form an opinion.
  But yes, there is some fuzziness, as anyone who does not care is more likely to choose "neither" as there is no "either" option, yet many of this type of respondent will have picked "don't know".
I recently read an opinion piece by a GB News writer (masochism I guess) in which he said Keir Starmer was out of touch with UK sentiment for prioritising Ukraine over the US. Now, Sir Keir is a woeful prick of a red tory, but its quite nice to have confirmation that GBeebies are badly misinformed on this topic too.
- Many people will claim that the public is on their side, without providing actual evidence. I guess that's why polling is important.
  Then you have some people who claim the polls are rigged, but I think it's more likely that the polls are pretty accurate.
American here - they're right
It absolutely is.
I love "don't know" people. Those are the real MVPs.
- Honesty is a lost art
Good to see UK!
I see YouGov: I downvote
- Why? Do they have credibility or other issues?
  
  Yes, they only attract a certain kind of users (i.e. easily tricked by "bonus points" systems). It's an opt in rather than a random selection. Even if they claim to use common strategies to spread out the responses statistically, there is no way it is accurate.
  YouGov bad: https://undark.org/2024/06/26/trolls-polls-survey-science/
  YouGov good: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/poll-of-polls-mrp/
- Are they inaccurate? What polling company would be better for this sort of political question?
After brexit indont give a shit anymore that the UK public thinks. They showed they're more than happy to vote for something insanely stupid and against their own best interests, only to start investing the subject right after voting for it.
This may be positive for us, but they may just as well vote for Putin taking over the UK government because some nitwit made an ad about it on a bus
The Uk is between a rock and hard place geopolitically. It seems that joining the eu is political suicide but aligning economically with the Usa means selling off the nhs.
I guess the best we can hope for is going our own way and hoping for some economic miracle . Maybe we'll discover some more north sea oil....

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