(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in the United States are satisfied with their country’s current regulations for the consumption of alcohol, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 52 per cent of respondents believe the legal drinking age in the U.S. should be 21 years.

Conversely, 33 per cent of respondents would prefer to have a lower drinking age, eight per cent would set it at 25 years, and five per cent believe drinking should be outlawed in the country.

In 1984, the U.S. Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. The bill—signed into law by U.S. president Ronald Reagan—established a minimum age of 21 years for the purchase or possession of alcoholic beverages in every American state.

Earlier this month, the Amethyst Initiative—a group encompassing more than 100 American university presidents—proposed lowering the legal drinking age from 21 to 18 years. The group’s statement read: "The 21-year-old drinking age is not working and (...) has created a culture of dangerous binge drinking on [college] campuses."

Polling Data

What should the legal drinking age be in the United States?

Source: Rasmussen Reports
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 American voters, conducted on Aug. 22 and Aug. 23, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.

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