The war in Ukraine has unsettled American politics. The degree to which it is changing American politics is the more consequential question for President Biden and the Democrats.
Russia’s brutal and unprovoked aggression against its sovereign neighbor has refocused the world. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become a figure of international acclaim and admiration. Russian President Vladimir Putin has become an international pariah. NATO has been rejuvenated and the United States is once again leading the Western alliance.
How much does that matter to American voters and how much will it matter in the November midterm elections? Today, inflation and other domestic issues remain the main drivers of the upcoming elections. One change the war has brought is that it has frozen the political environment at home and placed some issues — gas prices specifically — into a more-than-purely-domestic context. …
As the country’s leader, Biden could benefit from the broad consensus about Putin’s war. But support for how Biden is handling the war does not yet translate into greater support for Biden himself. CONTINUED
Dan Balz, Washington Post
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