The Military Times recently released a poll of 951 active military, reservists, and National Guardsmen, which found that 54 percent of them preferred Donald Trump for president. Only 25 percent liked Hillary Clinton. Another 21 percent said they would not vote.
And who could blame the troops for backing Trump? Would you want the person at the top of the Benghazi debacle as your commander-in-chief? How could the troops stomach a President Hillary Clinton talking about holding them accountable when she has never been held accountable for anything?
While the Military Times says its poll is not scientific, there’s little reason to doubt the general findings. The military tends to lean heavily Republican.
Plus, the Military Times survey reinforces an earlier Rasmussen poll, which I pointed to here last November. In that poll, only 15 percent of active and retired military had a favorable view of Clinton, and just 3 percent viewed her very favorably. Meanwhile, an astonishing 81 percent viewed her unfavorably and 69 percent had a very unfavorable view.
Of course, none of the three presidential candidates has had any military experience—though Hillary and Chelsea did take sniper fire in 1996 when they landed in Tuzla, Bosnia. Oh, wait…
Still, you’d think the military would be more favorable to a former secretary of the State Department—unless her performance at State is precisely why the troops refuse to support her.
And there’s more. Even though Bernie Sanders was a pacifist and a Vietnam War protester who applied for conscientious objector status, more troops prefer him to Hillary when matched up with Trump. Sanders’ support climbs to 38 percent—50 percent higher than Hillary’s—while Trump’s support declines a little, to 51 percent.
But it’s Clinton that will likely be on the ballot this time, and she will need every vote she can get. It looks like she won’t get many from the military.