CAAT Opinion Poll 2003

To coincide with the build up to "Stop the Arms Trade Week" in June 2003, CAAT commissioned a national opinion poll on attitudes to the arms trade. The questions asked in the poll mirror almost exactly the questions asked in an opinion poll undertaken by the Ministry of Defence five years ago.

Asked to agree or disagree with several statements, the results of the survey show a remarkable rise in the number of people who support CAAT's arguments on the arms trade, and a dramatic falling away in support for the government's position.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

1. We should sell military equipment to any country that wishes to buy it

Strongly agree: 3%
Tend to agree: 4%
Neither agree nor disagree: 10%
Tend to disagree: 20%
Strongly disagree: 62%

2. We should sell military equipment to any country not under a UN embargo

Strongly agree: 3%
Tend to agree: 10%
Neither agree nor disagree: 16%
Tend to disagree: 24%
Strongly disagree: 46%

3. We should sell military equipment ONLY to countries in the EU or NATO

Strongly agree: 9%
Tend to agree: 29%
Neither agree nor disagree: 20%
Tend to disagree: 17%
Strongly disagree: 23%

4. We should not sell military equipment to other countries

Strongly agree: 29%
Tend to agree: 16%
Neither agree nor disagree: 20%
Tend to disagree: 20%
Strongly disagree: 15%

CAAT's poll was carried out by BRMB between 1 & 7 May 2003
1004 people were questioned face-to-face.

MoD survey, 1998
UK Working Group on Arms survey, 2002