Hundreds of people gather in New York’s Times Square in support of Ukraine and to demand an end to the Russian invasion of the country: NAJ screen shot

Staff Report –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An overwhelming majority of American voters, 83 percent, say the world would be a better place without Russian President Vladimir Putin in power, according to a new Morning Consult poll.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the other hand, gets high marks from all voters, with 64 percent saying the world would be a worse place without him in power.

About 78 percent say the world would also be better off without North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and 59 percent say Chinese President Xi Jinping can go too.

About 43 percent say Western sanctions against Moscow should not be lifted until Putin is ousted.

“Clearly the stories of summary executions, torture and rape inflicted on civilians emerging from the parts of Ukraine taken back from Russian invaders have inspired horror and rage across the world, and U.S. voters seem ready to see the other side of Putin’s grip on power,” Morning Consult analysts say.

Of course President Joe Biden and the White House staff have made it clear that regime change is not U.S. policy toward Russia, instead pursuing a program of sanctions against Putin’s government.

“But regimes can become more repressive after being subjected to sanctions, often tightening surveillance and destroying alternative power structures that might topple the standing order,” Morning Consult says.

In North Korea, for example, where the Kim dynasty is if anything more firmly rooted after seven decades of sanctions.

Ukraine, for its part, has also been pushing the international community to acquiesce to its demands for reparations — even for the kind to which Russia would not need to agree: Kyiv wants permission to seize and sell Russian assets to help cover the costs of rebuilding.

The West has so far demurred, but U.S. voters seem less reluctant to support war reparations.

Antipathy toward Putin seems to be translating into a hard line on sanctions, with 43 percent of U.S. voters preferring to leave sanctions in place until he leaves power. Among those voters who said the removal of sanctions should not depend on Putin’s ouster, the largest share, 35 percent, say Russia should both have to withdraw from Ukraine and agree to pay reparations in order to have sanctions lifted.

In terms of forcing Moscow to pay official reparations in a post-war deal, conditions on the ground render the subject too speculative to attract attention in international capitals. Although Russia’s forces may be struggling more than expected, Moscow is far from defeated.

Beyond that, its nuclear weapons lend a certain limit to how much pressure the world can apply, and Homeland Security officials are warning Americans to prepare for cyber attacks.

A full 81 percent of American voters believe that Putin should face an international trial for war crimes, but they’re less certain about the U.N. body empowered with seeking justice, with just 51 percent having heard of the International Criminal Court.

Among those who had heard of the court, confidence in its power is lacking, with only 36 percent saying the court is effective in handling war crimes.

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The survey was conducted April 9-11, 2022, among a representative sample of 2,005 registered U.S. voters, with an unweighted margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.