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POLITICS

18% Favor Military Draft, 30% Support Required Year of Public Service

Support among voters for a military draft is at its lowest level in several years, but nearly one-out-of-three voters favor mandatory public service.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 18% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the United States should impose a military draft, continuing a downward trend from 24% in September 2007. Sixty-seven percent (67%) oppose military conscription, unchanged from a year ago. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Support for a draft was at its lowest in October 2004 when just 13% were in favor of one.

However, 30% of voters now believe U.S. citizens should be required to spend one year in public service, up from 25% last year. But 36% were in favor of this requirement in 2007. Most voters (57%) oppose such a requirement, while another 14% are not sure about it.

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Mainstream voters oppose a draft, while the Political Class is almost evenly divided on the question. Most Political Class voters (52%) favor a public service requirement, while the majority (57%) of those in the Mainstream are opposed.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 5, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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