washington americans are becoming less supportive of punishing russia for launching its invasion of ukraine if it comes at the expense of the us economy a sign of rising anxiety over inflation and other challenges according to a new poll while broad support for us sanctions has not faltered the balance of opinion on prioritizing sanctions over the economy has shifted according to the poll from the associated pressnorc center for public affairs research now 45 of us adults say the nations bigger priority should be sanctioning russia as effectively as possible while slightly more 51 say it should be limiting damage to the us economy in april those figures were exactly reversed in march shortly after russia attacked ukraine a clear majority 55 said the bigger priority should be sanctioning russia as effectively as possible the shifts in opinion reflect how rising prices are biting into american households surging costs for gas groceries and other commodities have strained budgets for millions of people and perhaps limiting their willingness to support ukraine financially that may be a troubling sign for president joe biden who on saturday approved an additional 40 billion in funding to help ukraine including both weapons and financial assistance the poll shows low faith in him to handle the situation and an overall approval rating that hit the lowest point of his presidency were killing ourselves said jeanette elliscarter a retired accountant who lives with her husband in cincinnati ohio we can help other people but in helping other people we have to know how to help ourselves and were not doing that elliscarter 70 noted that annual inflation topping 8 would erase any costofliving adjustment for retirees especially with the rising costs of health care and food she continues to do accounting work but has lost smallbusiness clients who no longer can afford to hire her the poll shows wide majorities of us adults continue to favor imposing sanctions on russia banning oil imported from russia and providing weapons to ukraine and most us adults continue to say the us should have a role in the war between russia and ukraine 32 say the us should have a major role in the conflict while 49 say it should have a minor role but theres muted support for sending funds directly to ukraine fortyfour percent of americans say they favor sending funds while 32 are opposed and 23 are neither in favor nor opposed the new poll shows just 21 of americans say they have a great deal of confidence in bidens ability to handle the situation in ukraine 39 say they have some confidence and 39 say they have hardly any sometimes we get involved in things that we really shouldnt and its going to make things worse said angelica christensen a 33yearold from ithaca new york we need to focus right now on building up our economy the us and european allies have imposed several rounds of sanctions on