American support for military aid to Taiwan has dropped amid continued aid to Ukraine, according to a new poll.
Fifty-six percent of Americans support increasing the U.S. military’s presence near Taiwan, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute found in a poll of 1254 adults conducted from May 30 to June 6. The number is down from 61% support in Nov. 2022. Fifty-two percent support increasing U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, down from 58% over the same period. (RELATED: Biden Admin Uses Ukraine Aid Funds To Scope Out Cobalt Mining In Idaho)
The U.S. sent nearly $77 billion in aid to Ukraine during the first year of Russia’s invasion, which began in Feb. 2022. Of the total aid, $46.6 billion was military, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, while the rest consisted of cash to keep the country’s government afloat and fund refugee and food assistance. The FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act allocated $10 billion for Taiwan, to be spent over a five-year period, and the Senate will likely try to add more in the 2024 package.
BORYSPIL, UKRAINE – JANUARY 25: Ground personnel unload weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, and other military hardware delivered on a National Airlines plane by the United States military at Boryspil Airport near Kyiv on January 25, 2022 in Boryspil, Ukraine. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Republican advocates of continued Ukraine support, like presidential candidate Nikki Haley and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, argue that the country’s victory over Russia would deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Foreign policy observers and intelligence officials expect China to attempt to take the island democracy by force by 2027.
Although Democrats and Senate Republicans are broadly in favor of continued aid to Ukraine, House Republicans are beginning to sour on such assistance. As part of the agreement with 20 Republican holdouts that allowed him to ascend to the speakership, Kevin McCarthy agreed that the House would pass an appropriations package for 2024 at 2022 levels. He is unlikely to support a standalone bill on Ukraine aid.
“If the idea of the supplemental is to go around the agreement we just came to, I think we’ve got to walk through appropriations,” the speaker said in early June.