Who Does the Military Back?
The Army Times conducted a poll of military personnel. In summary:
| McCain | Obama | |
| Overall | 68 | 23 |
| By Service: | ||
| Army | 68 | 23 |
| Navy | 69 | 24 |
| Air Force | 67 | 24 |
| Marines | 75 | 18 |
| By Race/Ethnicity | ||
| White Non-Hispanic | 76 | 17 |
| Hispanic | 63 | 27 |
| Black/African-American | 12 | 79 |
| Other | 58 | 30 |
| By Rank | ||
| Enlisted | 67 | 24 |
| Officers | 70 | 22 |
| By Duty Status | ||
| Active-Duty | 67 | 24 |
| Guard & Reserve | 71 | 21 |
| Retirees | 72 | 20 |
A word from academia:
“The military has been perceived as a conservative Republican institution,” said Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University and a special adviser to the National Security Council from 2005 to 2007.
“A lot of people thought that eight years of frustration with the Bush administration was going to undermine that,” he said. “This evidence suggests that it hasn’t undermined it as much as they thought, at least not yet.”
Indeed not. After all, the total lack of experience (and understanding) of B. Hussein Obama doesn't bode well for a Democrat takeover.
But the interesting thing about this poll is the answer to this question:
What is the most important issue for you in deciding for whom you will vote for president?
| Character of the candidate: | ||
| Overall | 42% | |
| Whites | 45% | |
| Hispanics | 39% | |
| Blacks | 18% | |
| Other | 40% | |
| The economy: | ||
| Overall | 25% | |
| Whites | 23% | |
| Hispanics | 28% | |
| Blacks | 50% | |
| Other | 28% | |
| War in Iraq: | ||
| Overall | 16% | |
| Whites | 16% | |
| Hispanics | 21% | |
| Blacks | 23% | |
| Other | 17% |
Note: percentages estimated from looking at a graph for anything
other than "Overall", but they are pretty darn close.
Who would have thought that the prosecution of the war would be third on the list of priorities for those charged with carrying the fight to our enemies? Could it be because they know they are winning, and thus other items take precedence? Or could it be because character counts, no matter what the issue? Well, for Whites, Hispanics, and "Other" anyway.
Anyone see any ACORN representatives staking out military bases? No? I wonder why . . .
Blog post #7069 in category
McCain, John
posted 24 October 08