Poll: Youth tie Bush, draft reinstatement

AP ^ | 10/8

[ambrose]

Friday, October 8, 2004 · Last updated 9:40 a.m. PT

Poll: Youth tie Bush, draft reinstatement

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- In spite of denials by the Bush administration, half of young Americans believe President Bush wants to reinstate the military draft, a national poll suggests.

The National Annenberg Election Survey found that 51 percent of adults age 18 to 29 believe Bush wants to reinstate the draft. Eight percent said Kerry supports bring back the draft, and 7 percent said both want to. A fourth of those polled said neither candidate favors the idea.

Both Bush and Kerry say they don't support a renewed military draft. Earlier this week, the House defeated a bill paving the way to a draft 402-2. House Republicans have sought to quash the persistent Internet rumor that the president wants to reinstate the draft if re-elected while Democrats have fanned the flames on the rumor.

"Young voters are much more misinformed about the presidential candidates' positions on the draft than the population in general," said Kate Kenski, an analyst at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center.

Three in 10 adults think Bush wants to reinstate the draft, and 7 percent of all adults think both Bush and Kerry feel that way.

The polling of 1,543 adults was done from Sept. 27 to Oct. 3 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points - 7 percentage points for the young adults.

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[ambrose]

looks like the DemoRat lies are having their intended effect. Sickening.

[BonnieJ]

They didn't counter it soon enough. Maybe they can now, with a few weeks left. But it will have to be aggressive.

[KJacob]

How do they counter it? They have constantly denied it. Some people will believe it no matter what.

[11th_VA]

The RATs have no shame ...

[The G Man]

We need our own grass roots email chain letter.

Might I suggest emailing that story out this morning about finding the pictures and floor plans of various schools in a terrorist raid in Iraq? Include a link to the news story and ask people ... who do you trust more to protect your children from these savages? The cowboy? Or the windsurfer?

[finnman69]

I bet one of the "undecided voters" tonight brings this up. Bush can knock it out of the park and refer voters to Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Charlie Rangel.

[Betaille]

This was nothing more than a push-poll. I remember after 9/11 my freinds were saying "we should get our draft cards ready". I knew it was silly then and still do. If you had asked 18-29 year olds the same question 2 years ago the answer would still be yes by the same proportion.

[sinkspur]

This idea that all these kids are going to vote because of the draft is just silly.

Voter participation among college kids has been going down for the last 20 years.

Registered or not, they don't care, and they won't vote.

[BonnieJ]

That vote in the House this past week should be talked about more. How Dems backed away from it, their own draft reinstatement proposal, and not a single Republican voted for it.

[Puppage]

half of young Americans believe President Bush wants to reinstate the military draft

Yet, 69% (in a recent poll) of these "young Americans" don't know who America fought in WWII.

And, let's not even ask them who the Speaker of The House is.

[wideawake]

I believe this is the real reason why Senator Kerry's numbers have been improving - not any allegedly wonderful debate performance.

The Democrats have pushed the draft idea from the beginning, Republicans have had nothing to do with it, and yet the Republicans have been completely tarred with that brush.

[PMCarey]

Earlier this week, the House defeated a bill paving the way to a draft 402-2.

I guess it would kill AP to mention that this was a bill sponsored by Democrats.

[rellimpank]

----"young voters"----probably the only group less well informed than the "soccer moms" of the last election---

[WildTurkey]

"Young voters are much more misinformed about the presidential candidates' positions on the draft than the population in general,"

MTV and CBS and the liberal newspapers did their job.

[Brilliant]

It just shows that Kerry is getting to be a better liar. He must be learning from Clinton.

[boxerblues]

They didn't counter it soon enough.

How are you suppose to counter it when the MSM will not report that the bill was soundly defeated just this week.

[PogySailor]

"Young voters are much more misinformed about the presidential candidates' positions on the draft than the population in general," said Kate Kenski, an analyst at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center.

After seeing how the MSM reported on the issue, is there any wonder WHY they are "misinformed"?

[truthchaser]

Yet over half of this "young adult" segment are going to vote for the President if we believe the polls. He is polling well with young people. So, I guess that means at least some youngsters believe the draft rumor, but are still going to vote Bush 2004. The denial of this rumor has been tepid at best. Perfect embarrassing zinger to simply bring this up, point out that only people talking about draft reinstatement are Democrats, who ended up voting against their own bill! For it before they voted against it. Totally ridiculous. Will the Pres bring this up?

[stuartcr]

Absolutely true, people tend to believe what they want...especially when it cannot be proven.....

[Pfesser]

Unbelievable. Kerry is officially for a 2 year national service plan
The following comes from Kerry own web site.
As part of his 100 day plan to change America, John Kerry will propose a comprehensive service plan that includes requiring mandatory service for high school students and four years of college tuition in exchange for two years of national service.
Found here http://web.archive.org/web/20040210043828/www.johnkerry.com/issues/natservice/