(CNN)Almost everything these days has become the victim of partisan polarization. If Democrats like something, then Republicans don't. If Republicans like something, then Democrats don't.
Partisanship, though, has taken a back seat when it comes to Americans' views of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Democrats and Republicans largely agree on how they view the invasion and countries and politicians involved, even on issues on which there used to be partisan disagreement.
You can see this well in a recent Quinnipiac University poll. When it comes down to the fundamental argument by Russia that Ukraine should be "reclaimed by Russia and no longer be a sovereign territory", neither Democrats nor Republicans buy it. Just 5% of Democrats say this claim is justified. And only 4% of Republicans dpo.
A new CNN poll found a lot of agreement on what America should do. When it comes to increasing economic sanctions on Russia, 85% of Americans who lean Democratic and 83% who lean Republican agree that they should be increased in response to the invasion.
Rarely do more than four-fifths of Democrats and Republicans ag？？ree on anything.
Read More
On the broader question of whether we should be doing more to stop Russian military actions, 65% of Americans who lean Democratic say we should as does a simila？？r 62% of Americans who lean Republican, according to the CNN poll.
That said, Democrats and Republicans don't want to commit to military action in Ukraine to stop Russia. Per the CNN poll, a majority of both Americans who lean Democratic (55%) and lean Republican (58%) are against such an action.
The split is the opposite when it comes to troops if Russia decides to invade a NATO country, according to Quinnipiac. In that case, 76% of Democrats say American troops should get involved. For Republicans, it's 69%.
Biden is vowing to seize Russian oligarchs' yachts. Here's where they are right now
The fact that a large percentage of both Democrats and Republicans want to protect a fellow NATO member is notable because Republicans have tended to be far more skeptical of the alliance than Democrats. Last year, for example, a Pew Research Center poll found that 85% of American who leaned Democratic said America benefited a great deal or fair amount by being part of NATO compared with only 55% of Americans who leaned Republican.
A different Pew poll from 2021 found that Americans who leaned Republican were far less likely (44%) to hold a favorable view of NATO than those who leaned Democratic (77%).
While Democrats have generally viewed NATO more favorably than Republicans, the gap had gotten larger during former President Donald Trump's administration. Trump had, at times, spoken of removing the US from NATO. Before he entered the White House, there was just a 6-point gap, in 2016, between Americans who leaned Democratic and viewed NATO favorably (57%) and Americans who leaned Republican and felt the same (51%). With Trump's time in office further in the rearview mirror, it's not surprising that Republicans are now fairly willing to defend a NATO member.
Democrats and Republicans coming together on NATO is echoed in their feelings about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin's favorable rating, per the Quinnipiac poll, was a low 6% among Republicans and 1% among Democrats.
'Ban it': Bipartisan lawmakers call on Biden administration to end Russian oil imports
During the Trump administration, there were a number of polls in which Putin rated much higher among Republicans. Trump, of course, had praised the Russian president. In one of those polls, conducted in 2018 by Gallup, 27% of Republicans held a favorable view of Putin, while just 4% of Democrats did.
A poll by CNN around the same time showed a smaller partisan gap in Putin's ratings (14% favorable rating among Republicans to 6% among Democrats), though the gap was significant between those who approved of the job Trump was doing as president and those who did not (20% favorable vs. 4% favorable).
With Trump out of the White House and Putin authorizing the attack on Ukraine, things seem to be going back to the pre-Trump norm. Indeed, there was no partisan split at all in how many Americans saw Putin favorably, according to a 2014 CNN/ORC poll.
The lack of a partisan split matches what we see in feelings toward Russia broadly. In a late February Washington Post-ABC News poll, taken almost entirely before the invasion, 13% of Americans who leaned Republican and 10% of Americans who leaned Democ？？ratic said Russia was a close ally or friendly to the United States.
In a 2018 CNN poll, those who leaned Republican were far more likely to say that Russia was an ally or friend of the United States (34%) than those who leaned Democratic (13%).
And even on the simple question of whether they view Russia favorably, the partisan divides have all but disappeared. In a Gallup poll taken in the first half of February, 12% of Republicans viewed Russia favorably. This was basically the same as the 10% of Democrats who did.
Biden administration will extend immigration relief to Ukrainians in the US
This marks a return to bipartisan normal. Dating back to the latter stages of the Cold War (1975) through 2015, Democratic and Republican views on Russia and the former Soviet Union were almost always identical. It was only during the Trump administration when Republicans were about 10 points more likely to see Russia favorably.
Of course, there is one big thing that Democrats and Republicans differ on when it comes to Russia: Biden's performance during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Most Democrats (70%) approve of the job the President is doing, per Quinnipiac polling. Most Republicans (11%) do not. In fact, almost every question that mentions Biden and the invasion results in a partisan split.
But this quarrel in domestic politics should not take away from the fact that there is, in large part, a bipartisan consensus when it comes to the larger questions revolving around Russia and its invasion of Ukraine.