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Initial Foothold of Public Support in Eastern Europe for Missile Defense is Reflected
LONDON, September 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Public surveys indicate a foothold of public support in Eastern Europe for a United States Missile Defense System that would protect Europe and strengthen NATO. Public surveys taken in Poland and the Czech Republic show support for missile defense at 58% and 9% undecided. The Czech Republic public shows much less support but still significant at 38% with 11% undecided. These initial poll results show a foundation of public support in these countries despite a lack of familiarity of the issue as less than one in four are familiar with the issue in both countries. These results show an increase in support of Missile Defense for those that are aware of the issue. Both publics believe Iran is a substantial and sizable threat to Europe and both believe missile defense will strengthen NATO, the Poles at 67% while the top reason for support in the Czech Republic is for European Security. "These results show initial support for a global missile defense system to include Europe as missile defense systems deployed today in Japan, Russia, Israel and the United States enjoy popular public support. As more and more countries move forward to deploy missile defenses from Australia to Spain to the Netherlands, popular support will follow. Our future as a Global community will depend on an integrated multinational missile defense system that can preserve peace and deter threats," states Riki Ellison, President and founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. The Poll was conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation using IMAS, a regional media firm in Eastern Europe, to do the survey on 1001 Polish adults (471 men and 530 women) and 1009 Czech Republic adults (486 men and 523 women). The margin of error is at the 95% confidence level, plus or minus three percentage points. The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), a non-profit and non-governmental group, sponsored the poll. For full detail of all questions asked and a summary of the survey, please visit http://www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org. Riki Ellison is available for interviews regarding the Poland and Czech Republic opinion polls. Please contact Nathan Singletary at +1-703-299-0062 to arrange an interview. Web site: http://www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org
