Polling conducted in the days after the Conservatives’ National Service announcement shows that the public narrowly support the proposals, but support is particularly high among the Conservatives’ key target voters.

With the Conservative Party’s surprise announcement on compulsory national service for 18 year olds, we set out to find out what the public make of the proposals.

Strikingly, just a couple of days after the policy was announced, the proposals have had significantly high cut-through, with two thirds of the public having heard of the plans.

Asked about whether they support the policy, the public is split, although voters are more likely to support than oppose the plans.

Unsurprisingly, young people are much more opposed, with Gen-Z (18-27 year olds) opposing the policy by two to one.

Looking at the voter groups that support the policy, it becomes clearer who it is aimed at. Conservative to Reform and Conservative to Undecided voters are much more likely to back compulsory national service. Similarly, our “Whitby Woman” voter type backs the policy three to one.

This is not to say that the public unconditionally back all forms of national service. Asked what activities should be part of this scheme, and supporting local charities, litter picking, and military training rise to the top. In contrast, the public don’t think front line military operations should be part of any compulsory national service programme.