Both "half" and "rooting" are exaggerations. No need for that. But yes, a depressing number of one party's politicians are willing to use Ukraine foreign policy as a domestic division issue.
Now, don't go and make this a division issue by disagreeing with me.
What on Earth was Ukraine thinking of by taking Russia's bait and getting involved in its own invasion!
/light humor
My brother in pro-democracy, you are literally exaggerating right now. If half the US adult population people really wanted Russia to conquer Ukraine, you would be able to easily cite polls showing it in rather stark terms.
Yes, it's definitely become a red/blue partisan issue, and yes, Republican "leadership" needs to be raked over the coals for their extended support for the Emperor's New Clothes, and yes, if Russia won they'd probably make up a bunch of "this is fine" nonsense... However!--Even if you assumed every single person of any party who thought "the US gives too much aid" was actually a crypto-Putinist hiding their dark desires for an outright Russian victory... Well, that's still only 37%. [0]
That far-reaching assumption almost certainly wrong through, especially since general sentiment toward Russia has almost hit rock-bottom. [1] That's why nobody even bothers polling for "which country would your rather see win."
[0] https://apnews.com/article/poll-ukraine-aid-congress-b772c97...
That's the problem. Now lets see how the facts compare to your feelings.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/03/15/public-expre...
>More than eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners (88%) and Republicans and Republican leaners (85%) favor keeping strict economic sanctions on Russia. And at least six-in-ten in each party strongly favor maintaining strict sanctions (68% of Democrats, 61% of Republicans). Chart shows Democrats much more supportive of admitting Ukrainian refugees to the U.S. than are Republicans
>Similar shares of Republicans (75%) and Democrats (81%) favor keeping a large military presence in NATO countries located near Ukraine. And there is limited support among both Republicans and Democrats for taking military action, even if it risks a nuclear conflict with Russia: About a third of the public (35%) and nearly identical shares of Democrats (35%) and Republicans (36%) favor this.
This took less than 30 seconds to look up, btw.