New polling from CBS. It’s good news that there is wide bipartisan support for the sanctions on oil and gas. Unfortunately, it does lose 14 points if people have to pay more. Still, it’s a hefty majority which is mildly surprising.
The overwhelming support for sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas, and the willingness to pay more as a result, is the kind of widespread sentiment we don’t always see in public opinion these days: bipartisan, cutting across race, region, and even income. And it is driven, Americans say, by a desire to help Ukraine and punish Russia.
Some economic pain now might be seen as a hedge against bigger problems later, if it stops Russia, because Americans largely believe Russia has designs on invading other countries beyond Ukraine. People who think so are even more likely to support oil sanctions.
Punishing Russia economically still finds favor over military options. For instance, even though many initially say they would back a no-fly zone, support for it drops off once Americans consider that it could be taken as an act of war and lead to a direct U.S.-Russia conflict.
This is refreshing common sense from a majority of Americans. They are not completely deluded by the asinine conspiracy theories that are all over the place right now.
But the rest is debatable:
No one can know that. I don’t see why people are so sure of themselves on these questions. Is it possible? Of course! And that’s frightening. So are these other things:
That’s why a no-fly zone is so risky, which people seem to realize when they stop to consider the real possibilities:
The US has no choice but to do the following, although the Trump voters should all realize that if their Dear Leader were in the White House he would very likely disagree (blaming it on their unpaid “dues.) He was relentlessly hostile to NATO and Europe in general complaining that the US shouldn’t be participating in their defense. But, of course, the last history book he read was in the 3rd grade so his knowledge of the stakes in a European war is exptremely limited.
The following is just sad. You can hate Biden all you want but he’s done a terrific job in keeping the coalition together and garnering global support for Ukraine and condemnation for Russian invasion. That was not a given. And he’s done it very deftly by not showboating and running around making bellicose claims or putting the US at the center of the situation, which keeps the temperature lower than it would be otherwise.
Of course that means he’s getting no credit and most people see it as weakness but that’s just the state of our stupid politics. He has done the right thing.
By the way, I think it’s clear that he wants those MIGs to go to Ukraine it’s just that he is treading very carefully on the concept of NATO escalation. It’s horrifying to watch the carnage but as former Obama state department official Congressman Tom Malinowski (who was born in Poland) pointed out on MSNBC, a limited no-fly zone is next to useless, and a real no-fly zone requires a willingness to shoot down Russian planes and take out ground air defenses in Russia in order to be effective. Moreover, this isn’t an air war, it’s being fought on the ground.
Personally, I think Zelensky and everyone else knows this and is “begging” for a no-fly zone largely as a way to keep the pressure on Europe and the US to keep supplying them with the weapons and humanitarian supplies they need. I expect he is the last person to want to risk nuclear war — his country will be ground zero.
The sanctions are already unprecedented and crippling. I don’t think people understand that. The supplies are going in as fast as they can send them. But at least it’s only a small minority of Americans who want WWIII. Small favors.
I don’t understand that but I guess it’s par for the course. It probably includes all Republicans and a few anti-war types who think the US caused the problem. Or something. As I said, Biden has done a very good job managing this difficult situation so far. But this sour mood just lays every unfortunate turn of events on him. I expect that from Republicans but it’s disappointing that some Dems and Dem leaning Indies can’t see that. I’d like to ask them what they would have done differently.
Anyway — the sour mood persists:
I guess the following is good news. But to me the threat from “other Americans” is still the biggest:
And yes … of course. sigh…
As I say in the title, Americans are somewhat sane but still misinformed. I guess that’s progress.