The British Guardian, a new survey by the YouGov portal, shows that only a minority of the population in Western Europe is in favor of further support for Ukraine if it means the war will continue. The values have changed significantly everywhere over the past two years.
The proposed answers were: “Support Ukraine until Russia’s withdrawal, even if that means the war will last longer” or “Encourage a ceasefire through negotiations, even if Russia still controls parts of Ukraine.”
Only in Sweden and Denmark is the group of supporters of further military action significantly larger than the group of supporters of negotiations. In Sweden, 50% of the respondents still support further military action, and only 24% support a negotiated solution; in Denmark, 40% to 34%. Even in the UK, the difference is so small that one can essentially speak of a tie, with four percentage points separating the two options (36% to 32%).
In Germany, the ratio has already reversed: 45% for negotiations, 28% for further military support. It is similar in Spain, with 46 to 25%, and in France, with 43 to 23%; the situation is particularly clear in Italy, where 55% support a negotiated solution and only 15% further military support. However, even in Sweden, Denmark, and the UK, the group of supporters has significantly decreased, by 7, 11, and 14 percentage points, respectively, since January.
The question about whether the current help and other measures against Russia are sufficient to prevent a Russian victory is a bit ambiguous, as even those who believe a Russian victory is inevitable may answer “not enough.” Therefore, the answer “not enough” is over 50% in all countries, ranging from 62% in Denmark to 52% in France.
The result should be treated with caution, as shown by the answer to the next question, which was: “How should your country handle the help it gives Ukraine?”, with the options “increase”, “maintain”, “don’t know”, and “reduce”.
In Sweden, 29% want to increase, 39% maintain, 16% don’t know, and 15% want to reduce. Two countries stand out for particularly high numbers for a reduction: Germany (21/32/13/35%) and Italy (11/28/23/39%). Even in France, 30% of the respondents now want to reduce the support, while only 14% want to increase it. The backing for the EU and NATO’s policy has decreased significantly, especially in the most populous countries.
The survey was conducted from December 3 to December 18.