A new poll by Overton Insights shows the breadth and depth of opposition to a military draft – and how far members of Congress lag behind popular anti-draft (and anti-war) sentiment.
All categories of Americans who were polled would oppose a draft: Republicans, Democrats, and independents; women and men; people of draft age and people too old to be drafted; and people of all races.
The wording of the poll reflected the confused nature of most recent reporting about U.S. planning and preparation for a draft. There was no mention of the impending shift from self-registration to automatic registration of young men for a future draft.
Respondents to the poll were asked, “If President Trump implemented a military draft, would you support or oppose it?”, which implies (incorrectly) that the President could activate a draft without authorization from Congress.
But the focus of the question on whether respondents would approve of an action by President Trump makes it even more noteworthy that a preponderance of Republicans – presumably supporters of the President – would oppose an attempt by Trump to activate a draft. 41% of Republicans would oppose a Trump draft, compared to 33% who would support it. Among Republicans as among all other groups, most opponents of a draft hold their views “strongly”, while most supporters would only “somewhat” support a draft.
Members of Congress have long been afraid that speaking out against trying to maintain “readiness” for a draft, even if draft registration has been a failure and trying to activate a draft would be a fiasco, would hurt them at the polls.
The takeaway from this latest opinion poll is that members and candidates for Congress regardless of party have much more to gain than to lose by taking a clear, strong stand against any draft.
Hellbound and Down 