NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A majority of Americans surveyed believe dropping atomic bombs on Japan during World War II was the right thing to do, but support was weaker among Democrats, women, younger voters and minority voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.
The poll, released Tuesday, found 61 percent of the more than 2,400 American voters questioned believe the U.S. did the right thing. Twenty-two percent called it wrong and 16 percent were undecided.
The first bomb was dropped Aug. 6, 1945, on Hiroshima. An estimated 140,000 people were killed instantly or died within a few months. Tens of thousands more died from radiation poisoning in the years following.
Three days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing about 80,000 people. Japan surrendered less than a week later.
The poll asked a single question: “Do you think the United States did the right thing or the wrong thing by dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?”
Among voters over 55 years of age, 73 percent of those surveyed approved the decision while 13 percent opposed. Sixty percent of voters 35 to 54 approved, while 50 percent approved among voters 18 to 34 years old, according to the poll.
“Voters who remember the horrors of World War II overwhelmingly support Truman’s decision,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Support drops with age, from the generation that grew up with the nuclear fear of the Cold War to the youngest voters, who know less about WW II or the Cold War.”
Among Democrats surveyed, 49 percent approved, while 74 percent of Republicans supported Truman’s decision. Among women questioned, 51 percent supported the bombing, compared with 72 percent of men surveyed.
The poll showed about 70 percent of white Protestants, Catholics and evangelical Christians support the bombing, while 58 percent of Jews approved. The margin of error was 12 percentage points for Jewish voters, officials said.
The rest of the poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
