User blog comment:AveryWood/Reasons Why Going With the Empire is Better/@comment-1786741-20120817053847/@comment-3492791-20120818174012

You kind of have to view things from a different perspective to understand the stormcloaks motivations.

They believe that the Empire surrendering to the Dominion showed that the Empire is weak. Since then the Empire has been enforcing the terms of the treaty. This makes them believe that the Dominion is using the Empire as a puppet government. The Empire can't openly forbid the Thalmor's presence in Imperial provences. This makes makes them think the Empire is allowing the Thalmor to invade Skyrim. Add in the fact the Nords have a strong history as heroic elf slayers, being told what to do by an oppressive govrnment of elves.

This pretty much adds up to that the Nords of Skyrim no longer believe in the Empire, and are trying to secede. The Imperials don't want to lose another provence in their already crippling "Empire". Stormcloaks liberate Skyrim from imperial control and become an independent state. Which then goes to war with the Dominion.

Once you understand this, the Stormcloaks motivations are not unreasonable. However, these aren't why most people disapprove of the Stormcloaks. The feeling that Ulfric is pursuing ulterior motives than those stated about is what turns alot of people off (myself included).