Irish voters say they want to support Ukraine but they stop short of saying that Ireland should get involved militarily in the conflict, according to a new international survey on public attitudes to the war by Ipsos B&A.
The survey, carried out by Ipsos in 29 countries across the world, finds that voters in the countries surveyed worry that doing nothing in Ukraine will encourage Russia to take further military action in Europe and Asia.
However, they are wary of their own countries becoming embroiled in the war in Ukraine. Only in Sweden – which joined Nato as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine – does a majority favour military involvement, while the Netherlands is split 50-50 on the issue.
In all other countries surveyed a majority agrees with the statement that their country “should avoid getting militarily involved in this conflict in Ukraine”. In Ireland 71 per cent agree with the statement, in line with the 29-country average of 70 per cent. In the United States the figure is 63 per cent; in the UK it is 58 per cent.
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Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of Irish voters agree that Ireland “must support sovereign countries when they are attacked by other countries”, again in line with the 29-country average of 66 per cent.
However, support for helping other countries who are attacked has fallen since 2022 in all 13 Nato countries included in the survey. In the United States support for helping other countries who are attacked has fallen from 74 per cent in 2022 to 64 per cent this year. Comparative data is not available for Ireland as the survey has not been carried out here before.
Voters have a pessimistic view of Russian intentions. Almost two-thirds of voters (63 per cent) agree that “doing nothing in Ukraine will encourage Russia to take further military action elsewhere in Europe and Asia” but 61 per cent believe that taking military action will “encourage attacks on other countries”.
As efforts to secure a truce and negotiations on a peace deal continue, majorities in many European countries think it is unlikely that the war will end by next January. In Ireland just a third of voters (33 per cent) expect the war to end by January.
The survey was conducted separately in each country among a total sample of 23,216 adults across 29 countries including Indonesia, India, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, Turkey, Mexico, the US, Spain, the UK, France, Australia, Italy, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Ireland. Some 500 people were interviewed for the survey in Ireland, and the margin of error is estimated at plus or minus 5 per cent.
