Polling Data

• 75 percent of Americans - including 64 percent of Republicans - think gays who publicly disclose their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the military
• 22 percent of Americans think gays who publicly disclose their sexual orientation should not be allowed to serve in the military
• 3 percent had no opinion

CNN
May 4-6, 2007

• 79 percent of Americans think people who are openly gay or homosexual should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military
• 18 percent of Americans think people who are openly gay or homosexual should not be allowed to serve in the U.S. military
• 3 percent of Americans had no opinion

Zogby
December 18, 2006

• 73 percent of military personnel are comfortable with lesbians and gays
• 23 percent of service members know for sure that someone in their unit is gay, including 21 percent of those in combat units
• 45 percent of military personnel suspect a member of their unit is gay

Pew Research Center
March 2006

• 62 percent of moderate Republicans support open service, along with 85 percent of liberal Democrats.
• 67 percent of Catholics support open service, as do 53 percent of Protestants.
• 66 percent of Americans in the Northeast support open service and 58 percent of those living in the South do the same.

The Boston Globe
May 16, 2005

• 79 percent of Americans believe gays should be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military.
• “Large majorities of Republicans, regular churchgoers, and [even"> people with negative attitudes toward gays think gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military,” the Globe reported.

CNN/USA Today/Gallup
December 31, 2003

• 91 percent of Americans aged 18-29 support allowing gays to serve openly
• 68 percent of Americans over 65 support allowing gays to serve openly; 74 percent of those aged 50-64 and 81 percent of people aged 30-49 support open service
• 85 percent of American women and 73 percent of American men support allowing gays to serve openly

National Annenberg Election Survey
October 26, 2004

• 50 percent of junior enlist personnel say that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military, up from 16 percent in 1992
• 29 percent of military personnel believe open service is an issue of equal rights.
• Service members surveyed “believe sexual orientation is unrelated to job performance,” Annenberg reported.
• Only 16 percent of believed lesbian and gay service members were “bad for morale,” while just 12 percent thought allowing gays to serve openly would be “bad for teamwork.”

FOX News
August 2003

• 64 percent of those polled support allowing gays to serve openly