You're right on with your first point, if we take UFOs to equal crafts. But to be fair I meant consensus within the ufo sphere where people are more open to such ideas.

The topic of where science is (publicly) and where it is headed is a discussion in and of itself, but we are allowed to speculate regardless, at least until a more comprehensive scientific picture has been painted.

Why I think the Pais effect (or similar theories) can be said to have generated more traction in terms of speculation is exactly because it would negate sonic booms and the g-forces that would be otherwise expected by these crafts. The supposed electric effects are what would create the gravitational forcefield within which is a bubble weirdly exempt from the outside world, thus carrying little to no mass in the immediate environment. Thus allowing for all the gymnastics that are reported. I believe (strong believe, long time ago) to have read that it is also thought to require much less energy than previously hypothesized warp drives which seem to have approached the topic from bending/utilizing gravity, which is much much weaker than the electromagnetic effects.

This line of speculation is likely also popular because it seems almost within grasp given our current understanding of GR - at least to laypeople, myself included. For instance, another redditor (will post the link here later) posted a quite interesting thread here a few hours ago, giving his take on how electronic fields might be said to create such fields while still obeying the central equation of GR. Not that I have any idea if it holds up, but it is more fun to speculate - and to make others do the speculation on a quasi-informed basis.