Poll Finds Doubt on Soviet Threat
A poll published Sunday showed that most West Germans queried believe talk of a Soviet threat is “not to be taken seriously,” reflecting the lowest level of commitment to defense spending in a quarter century.
The Hamburg weekly Welt am Sonntag reported that 51% of those questioned said the government spends too much on defense. Given a list of 17 social concerns to rank by order of importance, the “defense of the federal republic from external threats” was last.
Ranked first was the protection and creation of jobs.
When asked whether the East Bloc poses a military threat to the West, 75% said “this is not to be taken seriously.”
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