A notable majority of Americans support President Donald Trump’s approach to dealing with the three-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine, and far more than now-former President Joe Biden’s handling of the conflict. That’s according to CNN’s data analyst Harry Enten, who explained the results of a new CNN poll regarding the situation following a heated televised meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump, and Vice President JD Vance on Friday in the Oval Office.
“So I think the easiest way we can kind of just ask this is, do Americans like the way that Trump is handling his job, and compare it to how they felt about Joe Biden,” CNN data analyst Harry Enten said during a show segment on Monday. “So this is the net approval rating. You look at Joe Biden back in 2024, he was 22 points underwater. Holy cow. You look at Donald Trump. It‘s just a different planet entirely. I mean, the gulf between these two is wider than the Gulf of America or Mexico, depending on which side of the aisle you stand on. He‘s at plus-two,” Enten continued.
“So, look, at this particular point, Americans are giving Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt. He‘s doing considerably better than Joe Biden was doing on the handling of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. And so on this simple question, I think Americans are saying, ‘Okay, Donald Trump is doing all right on this,'” he said. Host Kate Bolduan then asked, “What about specifically on how they feel about bringing the war to an end?”
A little bit of a reality check for some:
-Trump’s net approval on Russia/Ukraine (+2) is far more positive than Biden’s was by the end (-22).
-The share (31% to 50%) who want a compromise in the war is way up
-The share who say Russia is an enemy is way down (64% to 34%). pic.twitter.com/z6k0x6A1yn— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) March 3, 2025
“So, you know, look, questions on this can be quite complicated, but I think this kind of gets at sort of where the American trend line is. Americans on the Russia-Ukraine war want a quicker end of the war, but Russia keeps its captured land. Look at this: 50 percent. Fifty percent, [a] bare majority…coming in here,” Enten continued. “Support Ukraine‘s right to fight, even if it means a longer war, that‘s at 48. This is very, very close. But the trend line on this question is so important because that ‘Want a quick end of the war,’ look at this, you go back to August of 2022, it was at 31 percent,” he said.
“Now we‘re at 50 percent. I mean, that is a rocket ship upwards in terms of the Americans who want a quick end to the war, even if it means Russia keeps the captured Ukraine land. Americans are moving closer and closer to wanting a compromise, even if it means that Ukraine doesn‘t really get what it set out to want, at least at the beginning of this war,” he added.
