Poll identifies bipartisan border compromises as Congress seeks Ukraine deal

EXCLUSIVE — A majority of the public prioritizes securing the southern border over supporting Ukraine, according to a new poll, as Democrats and Republicans remain at an impasse over providing more funding to the war-torn country amid Russia‘s invasion.

But while more than half (51%) of the people polled by J.L. Partners chose to reduce the number of illegal border crossings over sending more money to Ukraine as their top priority and less than a third of adults (30%) told pollsters they prioritized Ukraine over the border, the survey found some consensus regarding border security measures.

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More Republican-leaning respondents prioritized the border (73% border to 13% Ukraine), while their Democratic-leaning counterparts prioritized Ukraine (33% to 53%). Independents were more likely to prioritize the border over Ukraine (48% to 25%).

A third supported Biden’s proposed $61 billion supplemental funding request for Ukraine, while two-fifths did not, per J.L. Partners. Republicans (17% support to 54% oppose) and independents (29% to 41%) were more likely to be against it compared to Democrats, who were more likely to be for it (55% to 27%). Support and opposition were steady when the proposed request included money for border security measures (31% to 39%), but while Republicans and independents were still against it, GOP opposition softened (27% to 46%). At the same time, Democratic support softened (36% to 36%).

Biden created the political dichotomy himself when he proposed a national security funding supplemental bill for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and the border in October. Biden implored Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week not to give up “hope,” but instead of repeating that the U.S. would support Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” he said the U.S. would support the country for “as long as we can” during their press conference.

“My team is working with Senate Democrats and Republicans to try to find a bipartisan compromise both in terms of changes in policy and provide the resources we need to secure the border,” Biden said. “Compromise is how democracy works. And I am ready and offered compromise already.”

“Holding Ukraine funding hostage in an attempt to force through an extreme Republican partisan agenda on the border is not how it works,” he added. “We need real solutions.”

J.L. Partners also asked about specific border security measures, with a majority of respondents, including a plurality of Democrats and independents, supporting more funding to process immigration applications at the border (53% overall support to 20% oppose) and third-country agreements for returned migrants (52% to 15%), in addition to a plurality of respondents supporting raising the “credible fear” of persecution threshold (44% to 22%) and mandating more evidence of persecution (47% to 25%) for asylum-seekers.

There was bipartisan support for former President Donald Trump‘s so-called Remain in Mexico policy (42% overall support to 25% oppose), under which migrants awaited the outcome of their applications in Mexico. A plurality of Democrats opposed expanding the mandatory detention of single adults (39% overall support to 25% oppose) and continuing to build the border wall (47% to 34%).

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“GOP border proposals might be dividing Congress, but they unite an increasingly Ukraine-skeptical American public,” J.L. Partners co-founder James Johnson told the Washington Examiner.

The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted on Dec. 1 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.