Thread: 48% Say Shifting Military Money To Border Security Would Mak

48% Say Shifting Military Money To Border Security Would Make America Safer

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Nearly half of U.S. voters think America would be a safer place with less spending on the military and more money put into securing the borders.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters think America would be safer if military spending was cut and the savings used to protect the border. Just nine percent (9%) think shifting military money to border security would make the country less safe, while 34% say it would have no impact. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Interestingly, among those who have served in the military, an even higher percentage (57%) believe that a shift of funding like this would make the United States safer.

In a survey last May, 67% of all voters said military troops should be sent to the Mexican border to prevent illegal immigration. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... mmigration

With Congress talking dramatic budget cuts, voters are fairly evenly divided as to whether the federal government spends too much or too little on national defense, but most also appear to dramatically underestimate how much is actually spent. Just 56% recognize that the United States spends about six times as much on national defense as any other nation in the world.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on January 27, 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.

Most voters continue to view securing the border as the country’s top immigration priority. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... mmigration

The majority (56%) of Republicans and a plurality (46%) of voters not affiliated with either of the major political parties say shifting money from military spending to securing the border would make America safer. A plurality (42%) of Democrats agree, but nearly as many of those in the president’s party (39%) think such a move would have no impact on national security.

Sixty-one percent (61%) of conservatives say putting the savings from reduced military spending into border security would make the country safer, but 51% of liberals say it would have no impact.

Seventy-one percent (71%) of Tea Party members like the idea, compared to just 43% of those who are not members of the grass roots movement.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of all voters agree that the U.S. military now is the most powerful in the world. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/index.p ... l_military But voters see economic challenges as a much bigger threat to the United States than challenges on the military front. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... orld_peace

As the country wrestles with a future of historic-level deficits, 67% say illegal immigrants are a significant strain on the U.S. budget. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... u_s_budget
Most voters continue to believe that the policies of the federal government encourage illegal immigration, but voters are now almost evenly divided over whether it's better to let the federal government or individual states enforce immigration laws. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... mmigration

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... rica_safer

Still like it says the majority of likely voters support the military going to the border specifically. Less people want to cut the military while dumping that money into BP / ICE and so on.

The Military is the best trained for this situation hands down and the military can also do it all far cheaper.

I like this idea and have for long, long time!