Fewer Americans see Russian military as 'critical threat' to US: poll
Changed views come as Russia's military continues to experience challenges against Ukraine
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fewer Americans now see Russia's military power as a "critical threat" to the United States as its ongoing war with Ukraine passed the one-year mark late last month.
According to a new Gallup poll released this week, just 51% of Americans viewed the Russian military as a "critical threat" compared to 59% who said the same in the weeks leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Russian military vehicles move on Dvortsovaya Square during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Saint Petersburg on April 28, 2022. (OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images)
Americans who said the Russian military was "an important but not critical threat" stayed about the same, ticking up slightly from 35% to 37%, while those who said it was "not an important threat at all" doubled from 6% to 12%. Just 1% of respondents had no opinion on the matter.
Americans' overall views of Russia reached a new low with just 9% having a very favorable or mostly favorable view of the nation, and 90% having a mostly unfavorable or very unfavorable view. Just 1% of respondents had no opinion.
In this handout photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service released on Sunday, June 5, a Pion artillery system of the Russian military fires at a target in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Russia's 9% favorability makes it just the fourth country with a favorability rating in the single digits, along with North Korea, Iran and Iraq.
One of the likely reasons behind Americans' downgraded opinion of Russia's military might has been its inability to accomplish what many expected to be a less arduous task in facing off with the Ukrainian military during the initial invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian Navy's Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great) nuclear battlecruiser and Russian Navy's TK-208 Dmitry Donskoy nuclear submarine is prepared for the Navy Day parade in Kronshtadt of the suburb of St. Petersburg. (Igor Russak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Military experts were baffled at what appeared to be failures of the Russian military to adequately move with cohesion and keep supply lines running during its attempt to seize the capital city of Kyiv in the early weeks of the invasion.
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Russia ultimately withdrew its military from around Kyiv and the northeastern regions of the country and opted to focus its attention on the Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.