Republican voters have never been pro-Putin or pro-Russia. The liberal-leaning media has just tended to misrepresent conservative GOP foreign policy for many years now.
At the onset of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, most GOP voters said they disapproved of Biden's Ukraine policy in that
he had not done enough to push back against Russian aggression. While the number now saying the same has sharply declined, that can be attributed to the unprecedented $30B that the U.S. has spent on Ukraine's defense in the intervening 12 months. The grassroots Republican belief that we should be paying more attention to our problems at home is anything but new and resonates as much with independents and very many Democrats.
These partisan arguments around Biden's response to Russia obscure the objective reality that Republicans and Democrats are now more closely aligned than ever before on opposing Russia. The gap between the share of Republicans and Democrats who view Russia "very unfavorably"
is only 5 points.
Ignorance of these facts suggests a broader problem with mainstream journalistic and academic takes on the GOP's foreign policy. Most commentators take for granted that there is only one valid U.S. foreign policy position, namely the liberal internationalist approach. Debate is permitted only between hawks and doves within this tradition, but there is no room for anyone from outside of it (which is how Republicans are now somehow
both warmongers and isolationists, LOL.)
Given the stubborn conservative affection for the notion that ours is an independent country, regardless of cosmopolitan dreams of global government, your typical GOP voter is not going to be picking from the menu of internationalist policy proposals as defined by liberals. Our starting point just isn't a rules-based mulilateral world order. Our starting point is America First.
