The US-Russia conflict over Ukraine is nearing a blood-soaked first anniversary. Meanwhile, the rise of China and its deepening partnership with Russia are reshaping the world’s geopolitics.

The question many Americans have is what to do about it. A new Quinnipiac University national poll finds that the public’s moral outrage “stops at the water’s edge when it comes to committing the U.S. military to war against Russia.”

Even so, more than four-in-ten Americans (39%) say they approve of the Biden administration’s response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, while two-in-ten (26%) disapprove. A majority of adults in both parties believe that Russia poses a major threat to the United States, though Republicans are more likely than Democrats to feel this way.

Experts agree that the United States’ globe-spanning force would clobber Russia’s in a toe-to-toe conventional fight. But modern warfare is not like that; geography, politics and terrain inevitably give one side an advantage. And, when it comes to the ability to project power across the globe, the gap between the United States and Russia has never been wider. Today, the US spends 10 times as much on defense as Russia, operates 10 aircraft carriers, and has a vastly superior ability to deploy forces in time of crisis. The question isn’t whether the US will win a conventional fight with Russia but rather what the risks of such a confrontation might be, given that both sides are nuclear powers.