Military sharing plan finds resistance - Britons less keen than other nations, cuts to forces are biggest UK fear

 

London, 2^nd November 2010 - The latest Financial Times/Harris Poll finds that sharing military resources with other nations is an unpopular choice amongst Britons. Despite the new defence co-operation programme revealed today between the British and French governments, the survey found that there is overwhelming support in the UK to retain a strong national grip on defence assets. Majorities of 81% of Britons expressed concern that reductions in national defence expenditure could lead to a lesser UK ability to protect itself. In contrast, only 54% of French respondents echoed this opinion amongst the Britons.

These are some of the findings of a Financial Times/Harris Poll conducted online by Harris Interactive among 5,124 adults aged 16-64 within Great Britain (1016), France (1082), Spain (990), Germany (1021) and adults aged 18-64 in Italy (1015) between 12-19 October 2010.

The main findings of this poll include:

• Nearly one in four Britons were of the opinion that defence cuts were mostly a bad thing
• 60% of French respondents supported the joint government initiative of sharing assets, nearly double the

number of Britons who were of the same opinion

• Spanish, German and Italian respondents echoed the French support of shared military resources.

Almost half of Germans and Italians and 44% of Spanish respondents were behind the initiative compared

to only 33% of Britons

• 46% of Britons supported military action on Iran if the country were on the verge of acquiring a nuclear

weapon and all diplomatic options were exhausted. Support declined in other European countries with

only 28% of French and 37% of German respondents in agreement regarding military action in Iran

So What?

This survey underlines the political problems that confront governments and politicians when they are addressing issues of military defence and EU treaties.

TABLE 1

• "How concerned are you, if at all, that these defence cuts will weaken Europe's ability to protect itself?"

Base: All EU adults in five countries

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

 

TABLE 2

DEFENCE CUTS - GOOD OR BAD THING

• "Defence budgets in many countries including Europe are being cut in order to further bring down national budget deficits. Do you see these cuts as mostly a good thing or mostly a bad thing for your country?"

Base: All EU adults in five countries

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3

SHARED MILITARY RESOURCES AND SUPPORT LEVELS

"Some also argue for closer co-operation between countries on military issues, as being discussed by the UK and France. How much would you support or oppose Europe sharing military resources with another country?"

Base: All EU adults in five countries

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

 

TABLE 4

MILITARY ACTION ON IRAN

"How much would you support or oppose military action on Iran if it was certain that Iran was on verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon and diplomatic options were exhausted?"

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 6

BUDGET DEFICITS AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

"Many European countries have let their budget deficits rise in order to fight the financial crisis. Thinking of [insert country] how much do you agree or disagree that this was the right thing to do?"

Base: All EU adults in five countries and U.S. adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

 

TABLE 7

BUDGET DEFICITS, SPENDING CUTS, AND THE WELFARE STATE

"Some argue that the large budget deficits and the spending cuts that have happened or been proposed call for a re-examination of Europe's welfare states. How much do you agree or disagree with this view?"

Base: All EU adults in five countries and U.S. adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

- ENDS -

Methodology

This FT/Harris Poll was conducted online by Harris Interactive among a total of 5,124 adults aged 16-64 within France (1082), Germany (1021), Great Britain (1016), Spain (990), and adults aged 18-64 in Italy (1015) between 12 and 19 October, 2010. Figures for age, sex, education, region and Internet usage were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with non-response, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult populations of the respective countries. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls and the British Polling Council.

 

 

About Harris Interactive^®

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