Poll: 58.7% Of Voters In Favour Of Conscription
58.7% of voters are in favour of conscription for the Bermuda Regiment, according to a recent poll released by Profiles of Bermuda.
In releasing the poll results the company said, “Although down significantly from 2012 [70.9%], the majority of voters are still in favour of the conscripting of officers for the Bermuda Regiment [58.7% in 2015 and 56.4% in 2014].
“The fall-off may be attributable to the media campaign led by Bermudians Against the Draft [BAD], which was highly active in the lead-up to the 2012 election[*] but has been less active since then. The Bermuda Government is, reportedly, committed to ending conscription by 2019.”
Screenshot of the poll results from Profiles of Bermuda
Differences By Age Groups
Profiles said, “Those over 55 [70.6%] and those between the ages of 35 and 54 [54.8%] were more inclined to support conscription. Young people [those between the ages of 18 and 34] were more inclined to oppose conscription [44.4%], but even among this group nearly half of them [48.5%] supported it.”
Differences By Race
“Blacks [63.3%] were more likely than Whites and Others [50.3%] to support conscription. Conversely, 45% of Whites and Others, and 31.6% of Blacks opposed conscription.”
Poll Notes
In explaining the poll, the company said, “Category totals may not add to 100% due to rounding. The 2015 survey was conducted among 407 registered voters between 15 Apr 15 and 10 May 15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8%.
“Some 75% of respondents were obtained by landlines, 11% by cell phones and 14% via the internet. Data for all demographics were weighted to reflect the 2010 Census. There were no differences by income and gender for this analysis.”
* 2012 poll results were released in March of that year while the election was held in December.
What’s the results categorised by gender?
The question i have is this, “How many of the 58.7% voters polled that are in favour of conscription have actually participated in the army? I can bet you NOT MANY!!! Maybe those voters should volunteer being that they are in favour of this ignorance!
I can guarantee many of those that oppose haven’t.
I hope no women where polled. It has nothing to do with them.
Careful wording, a suggestive tone, lack of options, or subtle influence can get many people to answer questions and sway results. Its why many politicians hire speech writers.
I would have liked to see the answers to a few more questions like:
1) Should women be part of the conscription? If no, why not?
2) Is three years service ideal in your opinion or too long.
3) Should the Bermuda Regiment be the only option to serve or would we not be better off if our youth once again are given the choice to serve “x” amount of hours per year doing community service, police, St. johns, Red Cross, Bermuda Fire Dept, Meals on Wheels, KBB, nursing home, sports coach, Big Brothers or one of the dozens of other charities needing volunteers.
4) If you were (or are) a business owner, would you think twice about hiring a young male knowing they would be away for weeks each year (for 3 years) and you would be required to pay them anyway?
I wonder how questions like these (and other better ones) might change the results.
A small percentage of males on this island join the regiment at 18 to get it out of the way because they don’t want to have to deal with it after they return from College & University. Sadly, a few of these men loose the desire and never go overseas to further their education.
I don’t see why we cant service the community where needed instead of playing Toy Soldiers and learning to polish brass. WE can STILL require their services be available on short notice if required for Hurricane Relief, RIOT control, national Security or similar. We send hundreds of young men overseas each year to overseas camps where they have in the past done community work, built homes and done much more work when they could be helping a senior or someone here in need.
What’s the difference by gender? Women should not be considered in the poll unless they are governed by the same rules regarding conscription.
Rather depressing poll results.
I maintain we either make conscription universal for all (both male and female, mandatory for all Bermudians at age 18, full-time for one and a half years), or abolish it completely – I prefer the latter.
And yes, I did my three years two months.
Other small nations use their other emergency services to do what the regiment does here. Take that money and put it towards the police and fire fighters, train them better. For those that believe the regiment instills discipline, it doesn’t. Two weeks doesn’t instill discipline. It makes no sense to be wasting money on the regiment during hard economic times when the government is looking to make cuts to the salaries of the civil service by any means they can.
Conscription is completely outdated. Why on earth would you in today’s world conscript men unless you were under attack or at war?
If we desire a military force, budget for it, hire the soldiers full time and pay them a salary and benefits as the rest of the civilized world does or eliminate It altogether. Bermuda, with its current conscription policy, is one of only 2 or 3 countries left in the free world that still maintains such an outdated system.
The OBA has committed to end the policy. Lets get it done now.
The poll should have asked each person two questions just to see where their heads are at and to know who to take serious and who we shouldn’t. It should have asked 1) do you support conscription 2) do you support same sex marriage. I’m just wondering how many of them support both. I can’t see the logic in supporting Freedom in same sex marriage but at the same time not support Freedom from conscription.
It should have only been the male population that was polled as it only directly involves them, iam not for conscription for many reasons and it needs to be stopped……..that is my humble opinion ….
I was not polled, so you can add me to the IN favor of conscription!!! Everyone needs to do something for their country!!!
I agree but is 3 years in the REGIMENT the answer?
2/3rds of the time is spent learning how to march for parades, cleaning your rifle, brass and boots, drinking in the mess, shouted at or being rushed somewhere and then just told to wait. Its a waste of time, money and resources. I agree we should all serve, but the Regiment is not the answer. Our youth can provide true assistance to charities and the community while still being on call in case they are needed for hurricane clean up, security and other services required every few years.
Why wasn’t I asked or informed of this poll?????
How many people were actually asked?
407 people DOES NOT REPRESENT A POPULATION OF 70,000…..
Im in favor of it, i truely enjoy my time in camp, its home away from home, its good for the youth and a long tradition of bermudas history. If anything else when the island is in peices after a hurricane, we are the ones out there 3 am cleaning it the f*** up, so the ambulance and fire truck can come save some stupid people that was out in it and got injured, or perhaps your grandma who needs help ???? No conscription, no soldiers, hmmm ok well carry on then
It is funny though how suddenly everyone’s got all sorts of reasons why a poll might be wrong and shouldn’t dictate what the government does.