Should Ukraine cede land to Russia to end war? Here’s what Americans said in new poll
A small but growing share of Americans believe Ukraine should make territorial concessions to Russia as part of a peace deal, new polling shows.
In the latest Morning Consult poll — released on Feb. 28 — 27% of respondents said the United States should “push Ukraine to let Russia keep territory it has gained in order to end the war.” This marks a 5-point increase from a December poll, which found 22% in favor of territorial concessions.
In contrast, nearly half of respondents in the latest poll, 48%, said the U.S. should not press Ukraine to cede land, which is up 1 point from 47% in December. The share of respondents who were unsure shrunk from 31% to 25%.
The shift in the latest poll — conducted Feb. 21-24 with about 2,000 registered voters — was largely caused by more Republicans favoring territorial concessions.
A plurality of GOP respondents, 37%, said the U.S. should push Ukraine to cede territory, which is up 9 points from December.
Meanwhile, majorities of Democrats and independents — 60% and 53%, respectively — said they oppose pressing Ukraine for territorial concessions, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
The poll comes amid ongoing negotiations between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine to end the war, which has been underway for three years, resulting in an estimated one million casualties, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
It was released on the same day as President Donald Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which the leaders got into a heated exchange over the war.
“You right now are not in a very good position,” Trump told Zelenskyy, according to the Guardian. “You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position. You don’t have the cards right now.”
Shortly after the meeting, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, “I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE…He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 5:57 PM with the headline "Should Ukraine cede land to Russia to end war? Here’s what Americans said in new poll."