(TheConservativeTimes.org) – In a recent interview, Former President Donald Trump asserted that, if re-elected, he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, “I would tell Zelensky, no more. You got to make a deal. I would tell Putin, if you don’t make a deal, we’re going to give him a lot.”
Despite Trump’s desire for peace, it would seem to put him at odds with the generally anti-interventionist Republican base. Turning Point USA, the conservative political organization that works to mobilize high school and college Republicans, held a straw poll on its audience’s favored nominee for the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary. President Trump took the lead with 85.7% of the votes; however, the same straw poll had that 95.8% of respondents wanted no US involvement in the war in Ukraine.
While this may seem contradictory, a more likely assessment is that brokering a peace deal would not be considered a form of involvement that would lead to the potential loss of American life or American money and resources. If anything, it would not cost as much as continuing to back the Ukrainian government with increasing amounts of foreign aid.
While the war in Ukraine has a relatively unified response from conservatives, it isn’t necessarily their top issue. The straw poll, conducted with the Trafalgar group, found that the top political issues for the group are the southern border at 23.9%, inflation/economy at 17.8%, voting integrity at 13.3%, and radical gender ideology and kids at 10.0%. This demonstrates that Republican voters are primarily concerned with domestic problems, which Trump continues to outshine the other Republican candidates on.
While the war in Ukraine is a hot topic in the world, whoever the Republican nominee against President Biden is will need to walk a fine line on how they approach the issue.
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