Washington, Aug.16 (ANI): Over half of the 1050 adult Americans participating in a CBS/New York Times poll have said that women in the U.S. military should be allowed to undertake combat roles.

Currently, women are prohibited from joining combat units and only a slim majority of Americans support their participation in ground fighting.

According to the poll, 53 percent support women in combat roles, while an overwhelming majority of Americans (83 percent) are in favor of women serving as support for ground troops in such capacities as military police, medics and Humvee drivers.

Most Democrats, independents, liberals and moderates favor military women being directly involved in ground fighting. Republicans and conservatives oppose the idea.

Age matters as well. Just 37 percent of Americans age 65 and older support the idea of women joining combat units - the lowest of any age group.

Also, 60 percent of those living in the northeast favor women being directly involved in combat - the highest of any geographical region.

This poll was conducted nationwide by telephone July 24-28, 2009.The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. (ANI)