US public yes on freeze, no on Soviet advantage

A New York Times/CBS poll shows 72 percent of the American public supports a freeze on the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union at their present levels.

But there's a catch. Only 30 percent would support a freeze if it would allow the Soviets an advantage in nuclear strength. The Reagan administration favors arsenal reductions, but says that if the US agreed to a freeze on nuclear weapons now, it would invite a nuclear attack, according to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger in an interview on Public Television.