Military Times Poll: Trump Has Lost The Troops

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by: Colorado Pols

Military Times’ Leo Shane III reports that President Donald Trump is shattering yet another time-honored convention, and this is one Republicans might not appreciate as much: the once predictable support of active-duty servicemen for conservative Republican candidates:

The latest Military Times poll shows a continued decline in active-duty service members’ views of President Donald Trump and a slight but significant preference for former Vice President Joe Biden in the upcoming November election among troops surveyed…

But the Military Times Polls, surveying active-duty troops in partnership with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at Syracuse University, have seen a steady drop in troops’ opinion of the commander in chief since his election four years ago.

In the latest results — based on 1,018 active-duty troops surveyed in late July and early August — nearly half of respondents (49.9 percent) had an unfavorable view of the president, compared to about 38 percent who had a favorable view.

In a head-to-head matchup Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden leads Trump 43-37%, which is “close” in a similar way that Diane Mitsch Bush narrowly ahead of Lauren Boebert in the CD-3 race is close. The numbers reflect a very significant underlying shift from previous election cycles just for the Democrat to get to parity, and indicates a constituency that was previously not winnable by Democrats has been put in play. Locally, this could also help Democrats downballot in military-heavy areas of the state like Colorado Springs.

Although military votes historically trend conservative, it would seem that minimum standards still apply.

5 thoughts on “Military Times Poll: Trump Has Lost The Troops”

ParkHill says:

August 31, 2020 at 1:44 pm

A 20 point shift is highly unusual given that Trump's base support across the population has held pretty stable.

I wonder what factors are causing the shift.

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1. bullshit! says:
  
  August 31, 2020 at 1:51 pm
  
  My guess is the troops don't want to die for the worst president in American history.
  
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2. JohnInDenver says:
  
  August 31, 2020 at 4:27 pm
  
  There are a host of factors listed in previous polls. Stealing money from school building projects for his wall and too much bragging about his support for pay raises that came in barely over inflation were two domestic issues. Not being able to follow thru on a plan to draw down foreign troop deployments, pulling out and abandoning the Kurds, and extension of naval “at sea” tours were some of the foreign complaints. There are no doubt others in this year of Covid and domestic demonstrations.
  
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RepealAndReplace says:

August 31, 2020 at 1:52 pm

But Trump has done more for the ~~African-Americans~~ troops than any president since Lincoln.

And look at all the $$$ he has raised for veterans groups. Not bad for a man who has suffered from agonizing bone spurs since 1970.

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Meiner49er says:

September 1, 2020 at 7:01 am

If you look deeper into the poll, the negativity toward Trump holds strongest among officers, 37-63. That reflects the tendency among educated Americans, generally, but in the military it no doubt has a greater impact on all the ranks.

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