Outraged Americans overwhelmingly support a US ban on importing Russian oil following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and would back military intervention if Russia attacks a neighboring NATO country, a new poll released Monday found.
Nearly three-quarters of adults (71 percent) said they’d support a ban on Russian oil and other energy products — even if it leads to higher prices at the gas pump, the Quinnipiac University survey revealed.
Only 22 percent of respondents said they were opposed, with the remainder having no opinion.
“Americans are ready to put a chokehold on Russia’s key financial lifeblood, oil, no matter what the consequences are at the pump,” said Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy.
Meanwhile, 79 percent of adults said they’d support a military response if Russian President Vladimir Putin expanded his assault beyond Ukraine and attacked a neighboring country that is part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
NATO countries in Eastern Europe include Poland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — all of which fell under Moscow’s sphere of influence during the Cold War.
A majority of Americans also want President Biden to do more to curb Russian aggression, with 56 percent of respondents saying the steps the White House has taken so far are not tough enough. By contrast, just 30 percent say they are about right and a mere 3 percent say they are too tough, with the rest undecided.
Overall, Americans were split on Biden’s handling of the invasion, with 42 percent approving of his response and 45 percent disapproving. The president’s overall approval rate stood at 38 percent in the Quinnipiac poll, with 51 percent disapproving and 11 percent declining to offer a response.
Get the latest updates in the Russia-Ukraine conflict with The Post’s live coverage.
Elsewhere, 60 percent of Americans say Putin is mentally unstable and the same percentage say he’d use nuclear weapons against a NATO country. A whopping 86 percent of Americans said they believed the Russian people have no say in the actions of their government, while just 11 percent believed they do.
Half of Americans likened Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to the Nazi annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia prior to the outbreak of World War II. About a third — 31 percent — of respondents said the Hitler comparison was too strong, while the remaining 18 percent had no opinion.
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky has become a household name in America for his display of courage in standing up to Russia. The poll found that 64 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of him.
Nearly 80 percent of Americans supported accepting Ukrainian refugees into the United States, while only 15 percent said they were opposed.
The survey, taken from March 4-6, queried 1,371 adults. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
