CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said Monday that Americans are responding positively to President Donald Trump’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine War.
Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imploded in the Oval Office on Friday after the Ukrainian president accused the U.S. of not truly “engaging in diplomacy,” leading to a verbal blowout between the two leaders and Vice President J.D. Vance. While Democrats and European leaders have harshly criticized Trump for the incident, Enten said the American people are giving Trump the “benefit of the doubt” and largely prefer his handling of the Russia-Ukraine war in comparison to former President Joe Biden.
“I think sometimes we get a little too complicated in our questions. So I think the easiest way we can kind of just ask this is, ‘do Americans like the way that Trump is handling his job in comparison to how they felt about [former President] Joe Biden,” Enten said. “So this is the net approval rating. You look at Joe Biden back in 2024, he was 22 points under water, holy cow. You look at Donald Trump, it’s just a different planet entirely, I mean, the gulf between these two is wider between the Gulf of America and the Gulf of Mexico depending on what side of the aisle we stand on. [Trump] is at +2. So look, at this particular point, Americans are giving Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt, he’s doing considerably better than Joe Biden was doing on handling the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”
“So on this simple question, Americans are saying ‘okay, Donald Trump’s doing alright on this,’” Enten continued.
WATCH:
A narrow majority of Americans, 50%, want a quick end to the war even if Russia captured Ukraine as of Dec, 2024, which jumped from 31% in Aug. 2022, and are beginning to view Russia in a more friendly light, according to a Gallup poll from December 2024. Trump has said negotiations to end the war are underway following a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in mid-February.
During the hostile meeting, Trump told Zelenskyy that he acted disrespectfully to the American people and suggested that the U.S. has backed Ukraine “far more than a lot people say it should have.” The U.S. has sent over $65.9 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the war began in February 2022, though a White House official said all military aid could be canceled due to Friday’s incident, the New York Times reported.
Vance told Zelenskyy to show some gratitude to the Trump administration for trying to bring an end to the war and accused the Ukrainian president of campaigning for former Vice President Kamala Harris after he visited her at a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in September.
Trump and Zelenskyy planned on signing a finalized mineral extraction deal on Friday following weeks of negotiations. However, the signing and the scheduled joint press conference between Zelenskyy and Trump got canceled following the incident.
Trump said in a post to Truth Social that Zelenskyy “is not ready for peace” because he is using the U.S. to his own “advantage” in its negotiations with Russia.
“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today,” Trump said. “Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure. It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and 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 disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”
After being kicked out of the White House, Zelenskyy expressed his thanks to Trump, the U.S. and the American citizens for the visit and stated that his country needs “just and lasting peace.”
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