The majority of American female voters support the idea of women serving in combat, but not being drafted, according to a national poll from Quinnipiac University released Thursday morning at the National Press Club.
Seventy-seven percent of female voters indicated that they favor the combat policy change, the poll showed.
When asked about the reinstatement of the draft, only 28 percent of American voters were in support. Despite widespread favor toward women in combat, only 48 percent of females supported women being drafted, while 59 percent of men supported the idea.
“There is a sizeable difference in how men and women feel,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in the press release. “There’s clearly a gender gap,” Brown later told The Daily Caller. “But we couldn’t ask why. … We do data, we can’t read minds.”
Women were also timid supporters on the question of whether women in combat will improve military effectiveness. Only 46 percent saying it would.
The data reveals that female voters may believe that women should be allowed to serve in open combat alongside men, but they should not be forced to do so through a draft.
Brown also said he had “no idea” how voters would have responded if they had been asked about whether or not women were capable of performing the same as men in combat.
The ban on women serving in front-line combat units was lifted Jan. 24, in an announcement made by outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the Pentagon.
The margin of error was 2.3 percentage points and 1,772 people participated in the poll. It was directed by Douglas Schwartz.