Dear Members and Friends,
Yesterday, MDAA rolled out the findings of the first national poll results on the issue of missile defense since prior to September 11, 2001 at the third annual U.S. Missile Defense Conference in Washington, D.C. The polling was done by an independent national public opinion research firm, AmericanPublic.US. The polling data had a +/- 3.1% error with a 95% confidence level polling 1,000 registered voters representative of the national population with respect to gender, age, income, education and balanced to the U.S. Census Regions. The political party breakdown of the polling participants were as follows: Independents 24%, Democrats 32% and Republicans 39%.
The results show that the American public overwhelmingly supports Missile Defense at 79% and that it cuts across party lines; 70% Democrats, 70% Independents, and 91% Republicans. 71% of the American public would feel safer if the United States had a Missile Defense System in place and 53% of the public believed that missile defense was affordable and money well spent. When posed the question of what is the most effective option the United States should do in response to the proliferation of ballistic missiles and Weapons of Mass Destruction, the public chose the following options: Diplomacy (30%), Missile Defense (18%), International Treaties (15%), Nuclear Weapon Buy Back (5%) and a Combination of all these options (24%). It is also clear that 70% of the American public view missile defense as a Homeland Security and Public Safety issue.
“It is vastly important that we as a missile defense community have a single voice and that the voices of the American Public around this country must come back here through the beltway into the political decision makers on missile defense. They have to hear those voices and we have to say it over and over to them, repeatedly. For if we do that, we will continue to improve our capabilities, our support and our will to protect our citizens and our allies from ballistic missiles from all ranges and from all phases.�?
