Toronto (Feb 6) – As the two-year mark for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches on February 24, a new study finds that the number of Canadians saying the country has offered “too much support” has doubled since the early weeks of the war.
One-quarter (25%) of Canadians believe their country is doing too much to assist Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion, up from 13 per cent who said the same in May 2022, according to a new research from Angus Reid Institute (ARI). During the same interval, the number who say Canada is not doing enough has halved (38% to 19%), the study says.
One group is driving the bulk of this sentiment – Conservative voters. Data shows that the number of 2021 CPC voters who say Canada has done too much for Ukraine has more than doubled from 19 to 43 per cent between May 2022 and now. And while there has been an increase in both past Liberal and New Democrat voters holding this view as well, their proportion respectively has risen closer to one-in-ten.
The number of Canadians following news of the conflict closely has dropped from 66 to 45 per cent in that same period – a trend that holds for Canadians of all ages and political stripes, according to the Angus Reid poll.
Much of this leads to questions about the future and what role Canada should play. One-third (35%) say Canada should support Ukraine “as long as it takes” and one-in-ten (10%) believe it should only continue for one more year. The rest of Canadians are uncertain (30%), believe the war should end now with a negotiation for peace initiated by Ukraine (20%) or want Canada to end its support (5%).
As the war drags on, few see Ukraine’s situation as futile despite Russia’s superior military force and economic might. Just one-in-five (19%) say supporting Ukraine is a “waste of money” because the country’s situation is “hopeless”. In fact, a majority (62%) believe the war will end with Ukrainian victory, though few Canadians (12%) believe it will have reclaimed all its territory at the end of it.
This is perhaps sustaining belief that the right move for Ukraine is to keep fighting the war. At the one-year anniversary of the war, a majority of Canadians (55%) believed it was not time for peace and Ukraine should keep fighting. A similar majority say the same today.
The onnline survey was conducted from January 29 to 31, among a representative randomized sample of 1,617 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The survey was self-commissioned and paid for by ARI.
