Poll: If America Faced Ukraine’s Lot, Overwhelming Number Of Republicans Would Fight, Large Share Of Democrats Would Flee

Back in 1984, at the height of the Cold War, Hollywood produced “Red Dawn,” a movie about a group of scrappy teenagers in Colorado who become guerrilla warriors following a Soviet invasion of America.

The point of the movie was that the teens, much like Ukrainians now, saw their homes and community as something worth fighting for, despite the overwhelming odds and the overwhelming numbers and firepower of their enemy.

But a poll released Monday by Quinnipiac University revealed that, should something like the Ukraine crisis happen in America, the partisan divide that afflicts so much of life would also be found in a willingness to defend the U.S. at the grassroots level.

And presented the choice of fight or flight, most Republicans would opt to fight, while many Democrats would choose flight.

The pollster surveyed 1.374 people about various aspects of the crisis in eastern Europe.

For example, the questions requested answers as to whether America should ban imports of Russian oil, how President Joe Biden’s handling of the war rates, what should happen if Russia attacks a NATO ally, and feelings about the Ukrainian president and people.

But then Quinnipiac asked: “As the world witnesses what is happening to Ukraine, Americans were asked what they would do if they were in the same position as Ukrainians are now: stay and fight or leave the country?”

The positive news, such as it is, was that 55 percent of those polled said they would fight for their homeland. On the other hand, 38 percent would head for the exits.

 Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy suggested the glass was half full.

“When confronted with a terrible hypothetical that would put them in the shoes of the Ukrainians,” Malloy said in a statement, “Americans say they would stand and fight rather than seek safety in another country.”

Yet then the pollster broke down the partisan divide – and there certainly was a partisan divide.  

According to the poll, 68 percent of Republicans said they would fight the invaders, while 25 percent would leave.

On the other hand, just 52 percent of Democrats said they would stand their ground, while 40 percent would leave.

The outcome among independents was 57-36 in favor of remaining and fighting.

We perhaps should not be surprised by the results.

Democrats have spent years now telling their fellow countrymen, and more importantly themselves, that America is a hellscape of racist, sexist, anti-LGBT, xenophobic, anti-Muslim bigotry where the poor are trampled underfoot of the 1-percenters with no chance of rising above their station in life.

Against that backdrop, it seems clear why so many Democrats would not fight for a land they hold in such contempt.  

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