You have heard the Left’s talking points: despite the complete discrediting of their Russian collusion propaganda, they continue to insist, without a shred of supporting evidence, that Donald Trump was in Vladimir Putin’s hip pocket and that if Trump had still been president when Putin invaded Ukraine, Trump would have been applauding. 

Several polls, however, show that the majority of Americans aren’t buying this nonsense and are placing the blame for the invasion squarely on one man who is busy pointing fingers at Trump and a host of others to try to cover for his failures: Old Joe Biden.

Newsweek reported Monday that according to a new poll, “to the extent that American foreign policy encouraged Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine, more registered voters blame President Joe Biden than they do his predecessor, Donald Trump — and they’re ready to punish Democrats for it in November.”

Well, sure. We all learned in fifth grade that weakness invites aggression, but Old Joe and his feckless handlers seem determined to prove it again and again and again by being more weak and bumbling on the global stage than anyone ever thought possible. 

And so the HarrisX poll shows that 58% of Americans blame Biden for Putin’s invasion. While 42% of voters say that Trump’s policies are “more to blame about the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” 58% blame Biden. Even worse for Biden’s handlers, 66% of independent voters blame Biden.

According to Newsweek, this could have a big impact on the 2022 election: “When asked whether ‘Russia’s attack on Ukraine makes you more or less likely to vote for one party or another in the 2022 mid-term elections,’ 36 percent say they’re more likely to vote Republican and 24 percent say they’re more likely to vote Democrat, while 31 percent say it will not impact their vote. 

Among independents, 31 percent say they are more likely to vote Republican because of Biden’s handling of Ukraine while 13 percent say they’re now more likely to vote Democrat.”

There is abundant reason for all this. Dritan Nesho, the chief pollster and CEO of HarrisX, explained: “Voters believe that Biden has projected weakness to Putin with the slow rollout of economic sanctions. If the Ukraine crisis drags on and is top of mind leading to the midterms, it looks like voters — especially independents — will punish Democratic leaders for slow and tepid actions.”