A Russian invasion of Ukraine, which White House officials have said could occur as early as this week, would be likely to drive up gas prices amid the highest inflation in decades, wipe out significant gains in the stock market and give Republicans a new line of attack to argue against Biden’s foreign policy acumen — putting an already unpopular presidency on even shakier ground with voters heading into the fall midterm elections, Democratic strategists and pollsters said.

The White House “needs to prepare the American people for what might happen in Ukraine if Putin invades and how that war impacts American national interests,” said Michael McFaul, who was the U.S. ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We can pretend that wars far away don’t affect us, but history, especially World War I and World War II, shows they tend to eventually influence our security.”…

While there has been a mostly bipartisan unified front in Congress on how to respond to Russia, some Republicans have already begun to try out various lines of attack, looking for any opening to accuse Biden of not being strong enough against Putin. Last month, House Republicans seized on a suggestion by Biden that the U.S. response could differ if Putin carried out a “minor incursion,” a statement the White House quickly sought to clarify. Other congressional Republicans have since piled on the attacks.