Americans' support for 'no fly zone' declines once they know what that is: poll

Recent polling on whether or not Americans favor a no-fly zone over Ukraine has showed that citizens are in favor of the idea, but when those polled are told what the definition and implications of a no-fly zone are, support substantially wanes.

Supporters of the no-fly zone were at 40 percent of those polled, while opponents were at 25 percent. However, Yahoo! News reports, the numbers switched once respondents were told that a no-fly zone means that NATO would engage in war with Russia, shooting down their planes over Ukrainian air space.

Support for the measure dropped to a mere 23 percent, while opposition rose to 43 percent, once Americans learned that a no-fly zone would mean war with Russia. Much of this shift came from Republicans polled, "who went from supporting a no-fly zone by a 22-point margin (48% to 26%), to opposing it by a 38-point margin (55% to 17%)."

The Biden administration continues to say that the US and NATO will not implement a no-fly zone over the war-torn nation, while member of both the establishment GOP and Democrats have spoken in favor of the measure.

The Center for Nationalist Interest stated that "The suppression of enemy air defenses is one of the very first acts of enforcing any [No-Fly Zone] ... There's nothing de-escalatory about an NFZ, nor can the party imposing it ever be sure that it will be 'limited' in scope."

A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll overall has President Biden up five percentage points in his approval rating for handling the Russian conflict since it first started nearly three weeks ago.

The survey conducted between March 10th and 14th among 1623 US adults has amounted to more Americans agreeing with how the White House is handling punishing Putin in light of the atrocities of the war being put on display across social media.

The appeal to Congress delivered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a virtual speech on Wednesday morning had the wartime leader repeat his ask for a no-fly zone over his country.

When it comes to that specific request, US President Biden previously declined the idea as it’d amount to a declaration of World War III. However, it was after Zelensky’s address that Biden finalized his approval for an additional $800 million in military and humanitarian aid to assist Ukraine’s defense of their country.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Putin would have to directly commit to no further invasions, if the Russian leader ever hopes for US sanctions to be eased.