2015 Replication of the Roper/Fortune 1945 Poll
| Polling in the United States on the Use of Atomic Bombs on Japan | ||
| Polling Question: “Which of these comes closest to describing how you feel about our use of the atomic bomb?” | Elmo Roper “Atomic Bomb” Poll (November 30, 1945) | Roper 1945 Poll Replication (July 30, 2015) |
| “We should not have used any atomic bombs at all.” | 4.5% | 14.4% |
| “We should have dropped one first on some unpopulated region, to show the Japanese its [atomic bombs'] power, and dropped the second one on a city only if they hadn't surrendered after the first one.” | 13.8% | 31.6% |
| “We should have used the two bombs on cities, just as we did.” | 53.5% | 28.5% |
| “We should have quickly used many more of them before Japan had a chance to surrender.” | 22.7% | 2.9% |
| “Don't know.” | 5.5% | 22.7% |
| Polling in the United States on the Use of Atomic Bombs on Japan | ||
| Polling Question: “Which of these comes closest to describing how you feel about our use of the atomic bomb?” | Elmo Roper “Atomic Bomb” Poll (November 30, 1945) | Roper 1945 Poll Replication (July 30, 2015) |
| “We should not have used any atomic bombs at all.” | 4.5% | 14.4% |
| “We should have dropped one first on some unpopulated region, to show the Japanese its [atomic bombs'] power, and dropped the second one on a city only if they hadn't surrendered after the first one.” | 13.8% | 31.6% |
| “We should have used the two bombs on cities, just as we did.” | 53.5% | 28.5% |
| “We should have quickly used many more of them before Japan had a chance to surrender.” | 22.7% | 2.9% |
| “Don't know.” | 5.5% | 22.7% |
sources: “The Fortune Survey,” Fortune, November 30, 1945, reprinted in “The Quarter's Poll,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Winter, 1945/46), p. 530; and “Japan 1945 Poll Replication” (Redwood City, Calif.: YouGov, July 30, 2015).