As a former student of the polls, I’m interested in how and when Americans change their minds on issues big and small. Polls can’t provide precise data, of course, but they can give us an idea of the direction the wind is blowing over time. It is in this context that I followed it Minister of War Pete Hegseth’s comments about women serving in the military in combat roles. During his meeting with the generals on September 30, Hegseth said: “When it comes to any job that requires physical strength to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral,” he said. “If women can make it, great. If not, then it is what it is. If that means no woman is eligible for certain combat jobs, then so be it. That’s not the intention, but it could be the result.” The minister’s previous comments indicate that there is skepticism about women in direct combat roles.
For more than forty years, pollsters have been asking people whether women should be allowed in combat roles. When NORC asked in 1982 about the different jobs a woman could have in the military “if she is trained for them [the job]“97% said she could be assigned as a typist in the Pentagon, 93% as a nurse in a combat zone, 61% as a fighter pilot, 57% as a commander of a major military base, and 56% as a crew member on a combat ship. Only 34% said she should be assigned as a soldier in hand-to-hand combat situations. Presidential Commission on the Allocation of Women in the Armed Forcess was founded in 1992 in response to Congressional interest in clarifying the role of women. The Roper Organization conducted two surveys for the committee on attitudes toward different types of combat assignments, including different family situations, and the reasons why women should or should not serve in them. The final question showed that 26% thought women in direct combat positions would have a positive effect on the country’s ability to fight wars, 23% a negative effect, while 43% said neither. The Commission recommended that women be excluded from direct land combat units and positions, but allowed to serve on some combat ships.
Over the next 25 years, acceptance of the idea of women serving in combat roles grew. In a 2005 Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll, 67% supported allowing women to serve in combat jobs. In a 2009 CBS/NYT poll, 83% supported allowing women to serve in support roles in combat zones. In another question, 53% were in favor of allowing women to participate in direct combat roles. Pew Asked about allowing women to participate in ground units that engage in close combat in 2013, and 66% (37% strongly, 28% somewhat) said this should be allowed. Twenty-nine percent said the change would improve military effectiveness, 15% worse, and 49% said there would be no change. Republicans were less supportive than Democrats.
In 2013, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced the lifting of the exclusion from ground combat and in 2015, women were formally allowed to enter all combat positions. In one CNN/ORC poll As of 2016, 36% said women should be able to get combat assignments under the same conditions as men, while 51% responded that they should only get them if they want them, and 12% said they should never get them. In 1991 these responses were 36%, 45% and 16% respectively.
The issue returned when Hegseth was nominated and questioned about his beliefs. Early October CBS News/YouGov poll75% were in favor of women’s participation in the struggle, while a quarter were against it. Men (73%) and women (76%) were equally supportive. More than 70% of all age groups were in favor of this. A January 2025 Gallup question yielded similar results. In both polls, majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents agreed, although Republicans were less supportive than Democrats.
Allowing women into combat positions seems to be an established issue in public opinion. Giving people choices they can make for themselves is a powerful central feature in polls. Most of the questions I reviewed were about allow women to take on combat roles. Interestingly, the requirement for women to be drafted is not regulated. Americans are not in favor of returning to a design. In six Gallup questions between 1980 and 2001, people were ambivalent about whether young women required to participate if a design became necessary. A Ipsos question 2021 who didn’t use the word “require” found that 45% favored drafting women (up from 63% in 2016) and men if a draft were to be reintroduced, while 35% were opposed.
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