As neoconservatives and Republican senators beat the drums for military action in Syria, Republicans turned sharply against the idea — 70 percent against in September 2013.

Perhaps most broadly, a massive Pew Research Center survey in December 2013 found that 52 percent of respondents said the United States "should mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own." That was the most lopsided balance in favor of the U.S. "minding its own business" in the nearly 50-year history of the measure.

And then there was the YouGov poll in March that showed that "the American public has little appetite for any involvement in Ukraine....Only 18% say that the US has any responsibility to protect Ukraine." Republicans were barely more supportive: 28 percent yes, 46 percent no.

Janet Hook of the Wall Street Journal reported on that paper's poll in April: