Cruise missiles - trend
Q Do you think Britain should or should not allow cruise missiles/American nuclear weapons to be based in Britain? (Considerable variation in question wording - see notes below table)
| 23-29 October 1981† | 18 January 1983‡ | 6 May 1983§ | September 1983* | 28 October 1983‡ | 31 October- 1 November 1983* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Should | 31 | 36 | 44 | 45 | 43 | 38 |
| Should not | 59 | 54 | 42 | 44 | 51 | 50 |
| Don't know | 9 | 19 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 12 |
†Asked as "I am going to read out some suggestions that people have made regarding the defence policies of this country. Please tell me whether, on balance, you think Britain should or should not do each one: Allow American nuclear weapons to be based in Britain" ‡Asked as "I am going to read out some suggestions that people have made regarding the defence policies of this country. Please tell me whether, on balance, you think Britain should or should not do each one: Allow cruise missiles to be based in Britain" *Asked as "Do you think Britain should or should not allow the new American-controlled cruise nuclear missiles to be based in Britain?" §Asked as "I am going to read out a list of statements and I would like you to tell me from this card how strongly you agree or disagree with each one: Britain should not allow cruise missiles to be sited in this country" (Strongly/tend to agree shown in table as "Should not", Strongly/tend to disagree as "Should", Neither agree nor disagree and no opinion as "don't know")
