The Left Wants Peace

*Don’t believe the media. Progressives support diplomacy in Ukraine.*

I am running a campaign demanding a ceasefire in Ukraine, so I have a lot of conversations with voters and activists about the war. One of the common themes I’ve encountered is that many progressives agree that diplomacy is the best way forward, but they’re hesitant to speak openly about their position with their friends and family, fearing conflict. I imagine some of them are also afraid that speaking against a military solution will get them branded a MAGA sympathizer or Putin Puppet. Afterall, the dominant narrative in the liberal and progressive media is that MAGA opposes the war and Putin is colluding with the Republicans.

First, I want to say to my fellow progressives and leftists that there are more of us who support diplomacy than it seems. In fact, a survey conducted by the Quincy Institute last year found that Democrats are more strongly in favor of diplomacy than either Republicans or Independents:

Q: Knowing what you know now, would you say you support or oppose the U.S. engaging in negotiations to try to end the war in Ukraine quickly?

	Democrat	Independent	Republican
Support	70%	59%	54%
Oppose	21%	25%	30%

Source: Quincy Institute, Sep 2022 [1]

This survey was conducted a year ago; I would prefer more recent data, but alas this survey is unique in attempting to understand Americans’ views on diplomacy. More typical of American surveys are questions that diminish or eliminate diplomacy as an option. For example, take this question from a Brookings survey conducted in June 2023:

Q: How long should the US stay the course in supporting Ukraine?

	Democrat	Republican
1-2 years	26%	49%
2-5 years	13%	12%
5-10 years	1%	1%
As long as it takes	57%	31%

Source: Brookings, Jun 2023 [2]

It’s not explained what “stay the course” means, but presumably it is military support. Respondents were given no opportunity to disagree with “staying the course”, let alone express a desire for a diplomatic resolution. Another example of bias is this question from a CNN survey conducted in July 2023:

Q: Do you think the United States should do more to stop Russian military actions in Ukraine, or has it already done enough?

	Democrat	Independent	Republican
Should do more	61%	43%	40%
Has done enough	38%	56%	59%
Don't know / Refused	*	1%	2%

Source: CNN, Jul 2023 [3]

What does “more” mean? Are we supposed to assume it means more weapons and war? How many of the people who want “more” would prefer diplomacy over fighting?

The media is presenting us with a false dichotomy in which we have only these choices:

Abandon Ukraine
Send Ukraine more weapons

Thus, those of us who don’t want to see continued fighting in Ukraine must want to throw the Ukrainians to the wolves, aligning with Trump and emboldening Putin. It is no wonder so many of us who want peace are afraid to speak our minds.

Our media and politicians have reinforced the MAGA/Putin narrative by aggressively stamping out any suggestion that progressives support diplomacy. For example, when the Congressional Progressive Caucus issued a letter last year calling for diplomacy, they were forced by an establishment outcry to withdraw it within 24 hours [4].

Despite the anti-diplomacy campaign waged by our establishment, do progressives still support diplomacy as measured by Quincy a year ago? Drawing from my conversations on the campaign trail, I suspect the level of support for diplomacy amongst Democrats is similar. Beyond the anecdotal, hints that the MAGA narrative is false can also be found in recent anti-diplomacy surveys. For example, a question in a July 2023 CNN survey showed that women were less likely than men to support more war funding and people of color less than white people:

Q: Do you think Congress should or should not authorize additional funding to support Ukraine in the war with Russia?

	Ppl of Color	White	Women	Men
More funding	42%	46%	40%	49%
No more funding	58%	53%	59%	50%
Don't know / Refused	*	1%	*	*

Source: CNN, Jul 2023 [3]

If being against the war were truly a MAGA position, we would expect the opposite of this result, well outside the margin of error. It should be noted, however, that those who are against further funding are probably more concerned with domestic economic issues than with the situation in Ukraine. Another survey, from August 2023, found that those who view their own financial situation negatively are more likely to say that the US should help less (42%) than those who view their own situation positively (26%) [5]. In other words, the Americans least likely to support continued war in Ukraine are women, people of color, and the poor. That’s not MAGA.

Finally, I’d like to address something else that people have said to me: they’ll support negotiations when the Ukrainians want them. My question is, which Ukrainians, the Ukrainians in the East or the Ukrainians in the West? Ukraine has been in a civil war since 2014 and the US is backing one side while Russia is backing the other. As can be seen in the following visualization of survey data gathered by Gallup a year ago, Ukrainians in the East and West have different attitudes:

Why do the people in the East support the war less? According to Gallup, the closer a person is to the battlefront, the less likely they are to support the war – most of the fighting is in the East.

There is ample evidence that those who are least likely to support the continuation of the war are those who feel they are most affected by it: the economically precarious in America and those closest to the fighting in Ukraine. We as progressives should naturally align with these groups. We must not let ourselves be intimidated by a false narrative pushed by the establishment, and we must be vocal about our call for peace so that our progressive friends will feel more comfortable openly supporting diplomacy. Together, we can convince our allies to join us in waging peace.

I need your help spreading this message: