A survey commissioned by Vet Voice Foundation has found that an overwhelming majority of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would be accepting of gays and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces. The phone survey of 510 veterans was conducted Feb. 8-23 by Lake Research Partners and American Viewpoint, Inc. Although there were differences between younger and older veterans of the two wars, these were not large. Findings:
• 73% of all surveyed veterans said such open service would be acceptable, including 42% who said it would be acceptable without reservations and 31% who would find it acceptable even though they would not personally like it. Only 25% said they would find it unacceptable.
• 77% of veterans under age 35 said it would be personally acceptable, with 47% saying they would like to see the current "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy change, and 30% saying it would be acceptable but they do not like the idea.
• 70% veterans over age 35 would find it acceptable; only 26% would find it unacceptable.
• Of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans under age 35, 41% said they favor allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly and 35% oppose. Veterans over age 35 leaned toward opposing, with 31% in favor and 36% against.
• 60% of all veterans surveyed agreed that "being gay or lesbian has little bearing on a service member’s ability to perform their duties"; 29% disagreed.
• 67% of the veterans of all ages agreed that "gender has little bearing on a service member’s ability to perform their duties"; 23% disagreed.
• 82% agreed that "race or ethnicity has little bearing on a service member’s ability to perform their duties"; 15% disagreed.
In all categories, veterans of these two wars under 35 were more likely than those over 35 to agree that gender, race and ethnicity, and being lesbian or gay does not affect performance of military duties.
The pollsters sampled more self-identified Republicans (45%) than Democrats (20%).
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