Ukraine Opinion Poll

10 March 2022

Pollster Find Out Now and election experts Electoral Calculus have run a poll on public attitudes to the Ukraine crisis. This poll of 2,013 respondents was carried out online on 7 March 2022.

The headline findings are

Read commentary on the poll to put it in the global context.

Q1. "Thinking about events in Ukraine, do you agree or disagree that western countries should refuse to buy Russian oil and gas?"

In this question we asked people if they wanted to go further than current western policy and apply sanctions to the purchase of Russian oil and gas.

Agree strongly49%
Agree27%
Neither agree not disagree6%
Disagree2%
Disagree strongly1%
Don't know9%
Prefer not to say5%
Net agree73%

A strong majority of the public is in favour of energy sanctions on Russia.

Q2. "Do you agree or disagree that NATO, the western defence alliance which includes Britain, should enforce a no-fly zone in Ukraine to protect Ukrainians by fighting the Russian air force?"

Next we asked people if they wanted to go further than current NATO policy and fight an air war with the Russian air force.

Agree strongly20%
Agree20%
Neither agree not disagree13%
Disagree14%
Disagree strongly10%
Don't know18%
Prefer not to say6%
Net agree16%

In this case 40% of people think NATO should enforce a no-fly zone, and 24% of people disagree. A further 32% of people didn’t give a clear opinion.

Public attitudes to no-fly zone

Of those who gave an opinion, 52% agreed with a no-fly zone, 31% disagreed, and 17% were undecided.

Q3. "Do you agree to disagree that NATO, including Britain, should send troops to Ukraine to force the Russians to leave?"

Next we asked people if they supported sending troops to fight the Russian army.

Agree strongly11%
Agree14%
Neither agree not disagree18%
Disagree21%
Disagree strongly14%
Don't know16%
Prefer not to say6%
Net agree-10%

There are 35% of people opposed to sending NATO troops, with 25% in favour. There are 40% of people who didn’t give a clear opinion.

Q4. "Do you agree or disagree that Britain should intervene militarily in Ukraine?"

We also asked people if Britain should intervene militarily in general terms.

Agree strongly8%
Agree13%
Neither agree not disagree17%
Disagree23%
Disagree strongly18%
Don't know16%
Prefer not to say6%
Net agree-20%

There are 34% of people opposed to British military intervention, and 21% in favour. There are 39% of people who didn’t give a clear opinion. These responses were fairly similar to those of question 3, but more guarded than those of question 2.

Q5. "Do you agree or disagree that the UK should waive any visa requirements to allow in any Ukrainian refugee that needs humanitarian assistance?"

Finally, we asked if more Ukrainian refugees should be admitted to Britain.

Agree strongly32%
Agree31%
Neither agree not disagree12%
Disagree8%
Disagree strongly3%
Don't know8%
Prefer not to say6%
Net agree52%

A very clear majority of the public is in favour of this. There are 63% of people agreeing, and only 11% of people disagreeing. There are 26% of people who didn’t give a clear opinion.

Quotes

Chris Holbrook, CEO of Find Out Now: "It's clear that the British public is strongly in favour of offering support to Ukraine, but the majority want to keep this at arm’s length. A measure of the strength of feeling is the majority view that visas should be waived for Ukrainian refugees."

Martin Baxter, CEO of Electoral Calculus: "The British public want western leaders to do more on the Ukraine crisis. The public are even supportive of having a NATO no-fly zone, despite the opposition of both the US and UK governments. It's been a while since the British public was more interventionist than the American government, so this is quite remarkable."

Technical Details

Find Out Now polled 2,103 GB adults online on 7 March 2022. The sample was weighted to be representative by gender, age, social grade, other demographics and past voting patterns. Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus are both members of the British Polling Council and abide by its rules.

Full data tables are here.