For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ☓ percentage points. Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,010 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted July 25-28, 2005. Men and Republicans are more likely than their counterparts to say the bombing helped save American and Japanese lives. Similar patterns of differences by gender and party are also found on the other two questions about the bombing. Younger people are somewhat less likely to approve of the bombing than are older people - an average of 53% approval among people under age 50, compared with 63% among people 50 and older. Similarly, 60% of female Republicans, while only 37% of female Democrats, approve - a difference of 23 percentage points. Eighty-seven percent of male Republicans approve, compared with 63% of male Democrats, a difference of 24 percentage points. Note that among each gender group, the differences between Republicans and Democrats are similar. And among Democrats, the gender gap is 26 percentage points (63% of men approve, as do 37% of women). Among independents, the gap is even larger, at 40 percentage points (71% of men approve vs. Even within the party faithful, there are large differences in views between men and women.Īmong Republican men, 87% approve of the bombing, compared with 60% of Republican women - a gender gap of 27 percentage points. The large gender gap is not due solely to the fact that men disproportionately identify as Republicans and women as Democrats. An irony here is that it was a Democratic president who made the decision to drop the bombs, though now Democrats give the least support among the three partisan groups. Similarly, 73% of Republicans, 53% of independents, and just 47% of Democrats approve. ![]() Overall, 73% of men, but only 42% of women, approve of the bombing. To a lesser extent, older people are more positive than younger people. The poll shows that men are much more likely than women, and Republicans are more likely than Democrats, to express positive views about the bombing in Japan. ![]() Ten years ago, the percentage was slightly higher, at 86%.ĭo you think dropping the atomic bombs saved American lives by shortening the war, or not? Today, 80% of Americans believe the bombs did in fact save American lives by shortening the war. Truman's decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki was that the bombs would hasten the end of the war and thus save American lives. At that time, 85% said they approved and just 10% disapproved.Ī major factor in President Harry S. But approval differs substantially from the overwhelming support Americans gave just a few days after the bombs were dropped in August 1945. The views expressed around the 60th anniversary of that historic event, the only time atomic weapons have ever been used in war, are not much different from the views expressed 10 years ago around the 50th anniversary. There is no doubt none of that was considered, and none of that was seriously weighed in reference to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.^WORDING: Do you approve or disapprove of using the new atomic bomb on Japanese cities? "Under the current laws of war, if you know you are going to impact civilians, you must provide warning, and you must take precautions to avoid harming civilians to the extent possible. "There is no question that a dropping of a large nuclear weapon amongst the civilian population is a war crime," Harvard Law School professor Gabriella Blum says. Some prominent experts in the law of war are also reexamining the Hiroshima attack. "Using nuclear power to wage war is today, more than ever, a crime," the pontiff declared, adding it was immoral even to possess nuclear weapons. Pope Francis took a more critical stance during a November visit to that same memorial in Hiroshima. "That memory allows us to fight complacency. 6, 1945, must never fade," Obama told a crowd gathered near the shell of the sole building left standing where the bomb exploded. ![]() He offered condolences, but pointedly did not offer apologies. And as they collapsed, their stomach burst open."įour years ago, President Barack Obama became the first American head of state to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. "Parts of their bodies were missing, and some were carrying their own eyeballs in their hands. "They were covered with blood and burned and blackened and swollen, and the flesh was hanging from the bones," the atomic blast survivor recalled. Parallels A Survivor's Tale: How Hiroshima Shaped A Japanese-American Family
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |