Ike Puzon posted on August 26, 2010 09:34
AMERICANS PREFER RETENTION OF GAYS-IN-THE-MILITARY LAW
Likely Voters Also Oppose Abortion in Military Hospitals
A new survey of 1,000 likely voters commissioned by the Military Culture Coalition (MCC) in July 2010 has called into question common assumptions about public support for legislation to repeal the 1993 law that is usually mislabeled “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT).
Support for the Current Law
- In addition to strong majorities indicating support for key passages of the 1993 law, 48% of likely voters (67% Republican and 47% Independent) preferred that Congress retain the law as it is. The overall 45% of support for repeal was a full 30 points less than the 75% figure claimed in the March 2010 ABC News/Washington Post poll of adults.
- This survey gap suggests there is no public consensus for a rush to revoke the law. Only 1% of respondents saw repeal as a priority for Congress and the President in 2010.
- With a margin of 26 percentage points, 57% to 31% likely voters agreed that President Obama’s push for repeal is motivated primarily by politics, not principle.
- Fifty-seven percent of military personnel and family members surveyed said they support the current law. This percentage is almost identical to the annual Military Times poll of military subscriber/respondents four years in a row (2005-2008).
- Likely voters opposed allowing abortions in military hospitals by a margin of 49%-41%.
Opposition to Activist Group Recommendations to Make the New Policy “Work”
- A majority of likely voters (52%-37%) opposed the imposition of career penalties on military personnel and chaplains who do not support homosexuality in the military.
- By a margin of 55%-40%, likely voters disagreed that the “military should modify training programs to promote acceptance of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons in all military colleges and Defense Department schools.
- More voters (48%-41%) wanted Congress to give more deference to the four military service chiefs who support the current law, rather than to activist groups advocating repeal.
Political Perils of Voting for Legislation
- Thirty percent of likely voters said they would be less likely and 21% more likely to vote for members of Congress and the Senate who vote to repeal the 1993 law.
- 43% would be less likely and 21% more likely to vote for their Members of Congress who vote for legislation authorizing abortions in military hospitals.
The full MCC Survey Report and TOPLINE DATA are available here. The Military Culture Coalition is a network of major groups organized by the Center for Military Readiness, an independent, non-partisan public policy organization that specializes in military/social issues.
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