Like the blue-and-yellow flags that popped up all over the US when Russia invaded Ukraine 15 months ago, public support for Washington’s support of Ukraine has faded a bit, but remains widespread, according to a study by the Harris University of Chicago School of Public Policy. and NORC shows.

It found that half of the people in the US support the Pentagon’s continued arms supply to Ukraine for its defense against Russian forces. That level has remained virtually unchanged over the past year, while about a quarter oppose maintaining the military lifeline, which has now surpassed $37 billion.

Large majorities among both Democrats and Republicans believe Russia’s attack on Ukraine was unwarranted, according to the poll conducted last month.

And about 3 in 4 people in the US support Washington playing at least some role in the conflict, the survey found.

The findings are consistent with what Ukraine’s ambassador says she sees when she performs at think tanks, fancy dinners, embassy parties and other events to rally the vital US support for her country.

I feel that support is still strong, Ambassador Oksana Markarova said, even though tensions with China, domestic politics, mass shootings and other news often hover over Ukraine in US coverage these days.

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Other things are happening at the same time,” she said. “But I feel the very strong bipartisan support.

When it comes to specific forms of US support for Ukraine, popular support for US sanctions against Russia has fallen the most, from 71% a year ago to 58% this spring, though still a majority.

The decline in support for the sanctions may reflect popular concerns that efforts to isolate Russia economically have contributed to inflation, analysts said.

Overall, however, the findings show that some of the early reservations US policymakers had about strong material aid to Ukraine have not yet been realized: that public support would wane if the war continues, and that heavy aid to Ukraine would spell disaster. become. partisan wedge issue, split of Democrats and Republicans.

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There’s no ground swelling of U.S. Ukraine fatigue here, and that’s always been the fear,” said Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at Rand Corp.

For Cameron Hill, a 27-year-old state official and Republican in Anadarko, Oklahoma, there is much to hate about the Russian war and its leader, President Vladimir Putin: Putin’s statements that Hill took as misleading propaganda, his rule and attacks by Russian combatants on civilians and other abuses.

Civilians have been killed and raped from the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Hill said. It didn’t look like a morally led army in the first place.”

In contrast, a video showing the bravery of a Ukrainian fighter as he appeared to have been executed by Russian fighters caught Hill’s eye. His last words were something along the lines of Slava Ukraini, or Glory to Ukraine, Hill said.

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The vast majority of American adults believe that Russia committed war crimes during the conflict, including 54% saying Russia is the only party to have done so. The International Criminal Court in The Hague in the Netherlands issued arrest warrants against Putin in March over Russia’s mass deportation of Ukrainian children.

Older adults are more likely to view the Russian invasion as an unwarranted attempt to overthrow the government of Ukraine. 79% of people aged 45 and over, compared to 59% of people aged 44 and under.

In total, 62% consider Russia an enemy or top enemy of the United States. And 48% are very concerned about Russia’s influence around the world. At the same time, 50% say they have a positive opinion of the Russian people, compared to 17% who have an unfavorable opinion.

Only 8% of people in the US say they have a positive view of Putin.

Americans’ view of Russia and its leader has already been a focal point in US politics, as when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was criticized this spring for dismissing Ukraine’s fight against Russian forces as a territorial dispute. The comment was linked to a drop in support for DeSantis, a future Republican presidential nominee.

When it comes to the war itself, it is a pity that it has lasted so long. And I can’t imagine, you know, living there, and that would be my life every day, with bombs going off, said Laura Salley, 60, a college mental health counselor in Easton, Pennsylvania, and a Democrat.

But if we pull out, I’m pretty sure Russia would see that as an opportunity to re-enter, Salley said.

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The survey of 1,180 adults was conducted April 13-17 with a sample from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The sampling error margin for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.