Polling on the Issues: Public Opinion and the Nuclear Freeze

Abstract

Throughout the first term of the Reagan administration, the nuclear freeze movement headlined the news and scored numerous political victories. Hundreds of state and local governments, as well as the U.S. House of Representatives, passed resolutions in support of the freeze. Public opinion polls played a major role in the debate, as the media and freeze advocates cited numerous polls indicating overwhelming public support for the initiative. Yet a comprehensive and detailed examination of national polls reveals that public support for the freeze came heavily qualified. While Americans expressed strong support for the basic concept of a freeze, they expressed doubts about the possibility of a verifiable and balanced freeze agreement. Furthermore, the public doubted that the Soviet Union genuinely desired such an agreement. Most surprisingly, the public did not pay much attention to the debate. Few Americans claimed to know or care much about the freeze initiative, and fewer still felt positively toward the political activists behind the freeze.