Why is support for NATO membership in Georgia declining? The U.S. National Democratic Institute has released the results of its latest poll in Georgia, and finds that support for NATO membership is somewhat tepid: 26% of respondents say that they fully support Georgia's NATO membership and 36% say they support it somewhat.

As Civil.ge points out, this is a big drop from less than two years ago:

In a poll by IPM for U.S. International Republican Institute (IRI) in September, 2008, 69% of respondents were fully supportive to Georgia’s NATO membership, plus 17% saying that they somewhat support, with only 8% either strongly or somewhat opposing.

That's a pretty significant drop, and neither NDI nor Civil.ge attempt to explain why. Is it because membership is now a lot less likely than it seemed two years ago, or because the perception of the potential benefits of NATO membership has changed?