Foreign Policy and the 2022 Elections
While foreign policy tends to be less important than domestic policy in US elections, foreign policy did play a role in the 2022 election. One big issue was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 the Biden administration asked Congress to pass an aid package for Ukraine and worked to convince other countries to provide aid to Ukraine. Congress would pass three aid packages for Ukraine in 2022. Initially, most members of Congress and people in the electorate supported providing aid to Ukraine. However, as the war in Ukraine progressed, some Republicans in Congress and Republicans in the electorate began to question providing aid to Ukraine. Many feared that if the Republicans took control of Congress, US aid to Ukraine would be cut off which would severely harm Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. Besides providing aid to Ukraine, the US imposed economic sanctions on Russia. However, these sanctions caused gas prices in the United States to surge.
Instructors: click the link below to download this week’s lecture for use in your classroom. The deck contains a writing prompt and a debate question as well as other assessment questions.
Download: Foreign Policy and the 2022 Elections
Videos
News Articles
War in Ukraine Scrambles GOP and Democrats Strategies for Midterms
LA Times
03/11/2022
Ukrainians Keep a Wary Eye On US Midterm Elections, Fearing a Loss of Support
NPR
10/19/2022
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/19/1129652322/ukraine-us-midterm-elections
Ukraine Aid Opened the Floodgates for More Pentagon Spending As US Eyes Russia, China
Fox News
12/18/2022
Who’s Embargoing Whom?
New York Times
08/02/2022
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/02/opinion/russia-ukraine-war-embargo-gas.html
Five Ways Sanctions are Hitting Russia
New York Times
11/04/2022
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/us/politics/russia-sanctions-ukraine-war.html
Russian-Ukranian Presents Little Upside for Biden, But Downsides Possible: Strategists
Fox News
02/20/2022
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/russia-ukraine-invasion-dems-midterms-downside
Assessment
Debate: Why do you think as the 2022 election progressed, we began to see a partisan divide in support for aid to Ukraine?
How much aid should the US provide to Ukraine?
Poll: Do you think the US should continue to provide aid to Ukraine to combat the Russian Invasion?
Short Answer: Do you think the US should continue to place economic sanctions on Russia?
