1991 January 20 A New York Times/CBS poll of public support for military action in the Persian Gulf reveals that only 47 percent of blacks polled compared to 80 percent of whites favored intervention. One theory on the difference in support points to the disproportionate number of blacks to whites serving in the armed forces. While accounting for only 12 percent of the total United States population, blacks represent 24.6 percent of the United States troops in the Gulf. Many blacks point to the problems of drugs and crime as good places to direct government resources.