Last week Rasmussen Reports released a poll of 1,000 American adults on national security issues. The results were not good news for President Barack Obama’s New START agenda. Some of the questions included::

How important is America’s nuclear weapons arsenal to the country’s national security?

51% Very important
26% Somewhat important
11% Not very important
4% Not at all likely
8% Not sure

Should the United States reduce the number of nuclear weapons in its arsenal?

27% Yes
57% No
16% Not sure

Should the United States halt the development of new nuclear weapons?

31% Yes
46% No
24% Not sure

How likely is it that other countries will reduce their nuclear weapons arsenal and development in response to the actions taken by the United States?

13% Very likely
24% Somewhat likely
41% Not very likely
14% Not at all likely
8% Not sure

Center for Security Policy founder Frank Gaffney explains what the results mean at Big Peace:

In other words, the American people want no part of disarming this country. In stead, they expect their deterrent to be kept strong and modern; the polling data suggests how incredulous and angry the public will become when they learn the U.S. stockpile has not been modernized for over two decades, has been untested explosively for 18 years and the scientific and industrial infrastructure that supports that stockpile is now far less modern — and productive — than Iran’s, to say nothing of its Russian and Chinese counterparts. They also strongly reject the idea that underpins the Obama approach to New START and the “global zero” initiative, namely that the rest of the world will follow if the United States leads by exhibiting unilateral restraint.