Poll: 53% Support Women in Combat Roles

(CBS)  Women in the U.S. military currently are prohibited from joining combat units and only a slim majority of Americans support their participation in ground fighting, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll.

Just 53 percent support women in combat roles, while an overwhelming majority of Americans (83 percent) are in favor of women serving as support for ground troops in such capacities as military police, medics and Humvee drivers.

Views on Women in the Military

Both men (53 percent) and women (53 percent) favor an expanded role for women in the military, but just 44 percent of women age 45 and older support it, compared to 62 percent of younger women.

Most Democrats, independents, liberals and moderates favor military women being directly involved in ground fighting. Republicans and conservatives oppose the idea.

Age matters as well. Just 37 percent of Americans age 65 and older support the idea of women joining combat units - the lowest of any age group.

Also, 60 percent of those living in the northeast favor women being directly involved in combat - the highest of any geographical region.

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1050 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone July 24-28, 2009. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

[desi_13]

Hello, my name is Desiree and am a senior doing an essay on women on the battlefront, my father was in the military for 30 years and is now retired. He has given me some very good arguments but i would very much so would like to here more from a womens point of view that has the experience and could possibly tell me more to help me on this majorly important essay.
mom_medic2006, if you could please contact me at [e-mail] i would greatly appriciate that.

[blueline09]

This support for putting wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters in combat, something they?re not equipped to do physically or psychologically, is merely another sign of what a sick and twisted society we?re become.

[mom_medic2006]

I have read a lot of these comments and would just like to say a few things. First, you should not judge all women equally. I have been in the army since I was 17 and I am a combat medic. I am also a mother of two boys. Women may not be stronger than men physically, but we can take a lot of crap. We can and have deployed to combat zones, we have seen our friends fall and fought to save their lives. We have been wounded and killed just the same as men. We sit in tanks and hold our pee until the missions are over or find creative ways to go to the pot. We ruck for miles with full loads just like the guys. Just because you don't hear about it a lot doesn't mean its not done or can't be done. And when we go back home we step back into our roles as wives and moms. So don't down females just because you don't think they can do it. Let the ones who want to prove themselves. In the end we all bleed and die the same way. We are soldiers and we are tested thought the flames of combat just the same way.

[proudmilvet]

Almost forgot, Bill O'Reilly. Another Super Patiotic Flag Waving Clown who somehow never found the time to serve!!

[proudmilvet]

Archie-Clement... You stated that you know of no Liberal that served in the Military. You might want to include all of the Super Patriotic Flag Waving "Heros" of the Right Wing in that same catagory! Dick(Old Draft Dodgin Dick)Cheney,fully supported the war in Vietnam but chose to take 5 college draft deferments! Also among those who never served: Rush Limbaugh,Sean Hannity,Glenn Beck,Newt Gingrich,Ann Coulter,Michele Malkin,Tom Delay,Dick Armey,Phil Gramm,ect. All Chickenhawks!!

[idcabouturproblems]

I wonder what terrorists will do when that capture a women soldier, think about it...

[bpb58]

Besides, the majority of women dress like the men anyway.

[bpb58]

hey, equal means equal. I also think young women should have to register for the selective service like the young men. I actually think mandatory service is a good idea, like many other countries.

[devipod07]

Having been an Army Infantry soldier with a tour in Afghanistan, I can honestly say I do not support women being in forward combat units. Not the infantry at least. Its not that I dont beleive women can do the job, or that they are inferior in anyway. Its the psychology of the job that is at stake. Co-ed combat units I think would be ineffective. There needs to be a bit of male chauvinism. The gravity of the task hand demands a bit of the 'invincibility' feeling that young men have in them. Likewise, men might feel obligated to be overprotective of their femal counterpart, or the female may be OVERLY aggressive in an attmept to assert her place. In combat, those can be fatal mistakes. There is in no way I look back at my tour and think I could have done the same job, with women in my platoon especially given the conditions we were in. I almost think its hardwired in male evolution to be the fighters, and women to be the ardent, and confident supporters. Changing those roles too much would be really risky in my opinion

[daffy64]

Any woman that advocates women in combat...it obviously not concerned that they are personally going to go into combat.