84 percent of Americans back BMD

DETROIT, July 27 (UPI) -- A huge majority of Americans now backs ballistic missile defense, a new poll released Thursday said.

The new national opinion poll carried out by the Opinion research Corp. said 84 percent of Americans backed the creation of a missile defense system to protect the United States.

The poll results also showed that 70 percent of Americans now back President George W. Bush's plan to build BMD interceptor and radar bases in Poland and the Czech Republic as a line of defense for Western Europe and the United States against future nuclear-armed Iranian intermediate and intercontinental-range ballistic missiles.

The poll had a 3.2 percentage point margin of error and was comprised of weighted results from 1,000 respondents across the United States.

"The results of the poll clearly show a mandate by the American public to our Congress and President to move forward on the deployment and development of Missile Defense," said Riki Ellison, president and founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.

The poll results also showed that more than four out of five Americans -- 82 percent -- wanted BMD systems deployed to guard U.S. troops and allied nations from ballistic missile attack.

The poll results showed 71 percent backing total funding of missile defense by the U.S. Congress. And 81 percent described BMD as an important issue for presidential candidates from both major parties.

The results of the poll were announced the same week that a congressional panel voted to eliminate funding for the ABM interceptor base in Poland while retaining it for building the radar base in the Czech Republic.