Poll: Ukraine crisis hurts Obama approval ratings

[DonViejo]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign policy used to stand out as a not-so-bleak spot in the public’s waning assessment of Barack Obama. Not anymore. He’s getting low marks for handling Russia’s swoop into Ukraine, and more Americans than ever disapprove of the way Obama is doing his job, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.

Despite the poor performance reviews, Obama’s primary tactic so far — imposing economic sanctions on key Russians — has strong backing.

Close to 9 out of 10 Americans support sanctions as a response to Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, the poll indicates. About half of that group says the U.S. sanctions so far are about right, while the other half wants to see them strengthened, the AP-GfK poll found.

Most Democrats say the sanctions were OK, while a majority of Republicans find them too weak.

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/03/27/poll_ukraine_crisis_hurts_obama_approval_ratings/

[TwilightGardener]

1. Obama did what any other President would have done--but the difference is, he has

Republican-controlled media shrieking about mom-jeans and Vlad's manly man-tits 24/7. Most people don't know enough about foreign policy to make solid judgments about what led up to crises and how we should react--so they only parrot what they hear in the media. I was about the only person in America who thought Bush's post-9/11 "bullhorn" moment was complete bullshit, a cheezy photo-op for a tragedy that he wasn't up to handling, the other 90% of America ate it up like a pudding.

[leftyohiolib]

2. even a trained monkey can use a bullhorn - i thought it was a lie as well

[MBS]

8. I also thought the Bullhorn Moment was complete BS

.. you are not alone!

[Lasher]

3. Some Americans actually want war with Russia.

I can't find the words to describe such insanity.

[7962]

7. I don't, but I'm afraid thats whats coming as long as Putin is in control

He is NOT going to stop with Crimea. He will pressure other former Soviet countries. He's going to stand more firmly against us with regard to Iran. He's going to try to take the Arctic. He's already taken control over the Sea of Okotosk. At some point the world will HAVE to stand up to him stronger than sanctions.
I could be wrong, but so far I havent been when it comes to Putin.

[Igel]

11. Did Putin want war?

I don't think so.

He put troops in Crimea--today the announcement was that they were pulling out "troops" in the 10s of thousands in the next few days. (Which is interesting, since they never put troops into the Crimea some would have many of us believe.)

By putting troops into Crimea he made it very high-stakes for Ukraininan troops to even just be there. To introduce more troops would have been insanely risky. This also made the vote less free, allowed the government to engage in repression (which many seemed to rather envy), and otherwise keep civil society under control.


Now the talk is of risk of having Luhansk, Donetsk, and nearby areas occupied by Russian troops. With a firm commitment from all of NATO to make sure that the same lack of opposition that met them in Crimea meets them in those areas; even the Ukrainians are less than firmly opposed, simply because *they* don't want war. Indeed, now Russia knows the kind of reception it'll get from the locals *and* from the non-locals. The side that is the least willing to stand up to a threat, even if it's a bluff, loses.

What would happen with beefed up troop presence in those areas? It would make it very high-stakes for Russian troops to be introduced there. Would it mean we want war with Russia, or whoever stations troops there is itching for a fight?

We have 30k US troops in S. Korea for the same reason. We used to have troops for that reason in Central Europe. Nobody says that we're itching for a war with N. Korea or wanted a war with the Warsaw Pact countries.

[Beacool]

4. I think that some people think that an American president has unlimited powers on the world stage.

That's just ignorant. Short of using force, no American president would have been able to stop Putin's incursion into Crimea. Obama doesn't have a magic wand, neither did the previous presidents.

Sanctions is the way to go and they are already being considered and implemented. They also can't be unilateral and need the full cooperation of the Europeans.

[davidpdx]

12. Didn't you hear? Obama likes to overthrow governments.

He's channeling Reagan.

[louis-t]

5. He gets "low marks" not because the public is so brilliant

but because the repugs scream all day, every day about how 'weak' and 'naïve' he is.

[Dopers_Greed]

6. The RW media is out of control

It's pretty telling that a majority strongly back Obama's policy, yet his approval ratings still go down. No matter what he does, the RW media screams about it, and people listen.

[Robbins]

9. So what do they want

War with russia over their invision? Threating attack if puttin doesn't resign?

We aren't out of afghanstain yet and people want war with Russia?

I say we don't have any moral authority anymore to complain about Putin's actions after iraq and afghanstain.

[arewenotdemo]

10. He deserves extremely low marks.

He had Nuland and Pyatt finesse a coup in a politically unstable Russian neighbor.

Only an absolute fool couldn't have forecast how Putin would react.

[aceofblades]

13. If I am interpreting your statement correctly,

can you please explain how those two were either sufficient or even essential to said coup?

[OilemFirchen]

14. Don't bother.

It's an emoprog Benghazm. They tend to last about a month.

Wear earplugs is my recommendation.

[JusticeForAll]

15. LOL this poll makes me laugh

Half the country couldn't even identify Russia on a map or even what continent it's on, let alone describe coherently the regional impact of the situation OR the president's response to it.

Like another poster said, they are just parroting the blowhards in the media and the Republican party without any cognizance of the actual situation.

[Ash_F]

16. A bloody war with Russia wouldn't?

What exactly do people want the president to do?

[BlueStater]

17. What the hell do they expect him to do? Attack Russia?

God, some people are so stupid.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

18. I want to invade China first and then roll on into Russia.

It will be cooler that way. And stuff.

[Douglas Carpenter]

19. well, just what the fuck was he supposed to do? Nuke Moscow?