Really, do we need to be on the brink of destruction ALL the time?

From the NYT today:

Large majorities of Americans and Russians favor taking nuclear weapons off high alert, sharply cutting the numbers of nuclear weapons, banning the production of weapons-grade nuclear material, and -- once advanced methods of international verification are established -- undertaking the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.

These steps correspond to key elements of a plan for "A World Free of Nuclear Weapons," developed by a bipartisan group that includes two former secretaries of state (George Schultz and Henry Kissinger), a former defense secretary (William Perry) and the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (Sam Nunn) -- sometimes called the "Reykjavik Revisited" plan. Some have been included in recent legislation, such as a bill introduced by Senators Chuck Hagel and Barack Obama (S.1977).

The WorldPublicOpinion.org poll was developed in conjunction with the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland (CISSM) and fielded by Knowledge Networks in the United States and the Levada Center in Russia.