Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Brody's Notes... U. S. Military Political Affiliation Shifts To Centre

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Apr 13 | The Military Times Media Group, which publishes weekly print publications with online daily updates for U. S. military personnel, yesterday released the results of recent polling of both commissioned and non-commissioned members of various branches of the U. S. Defence Department in a survey regarding political affiliations.
According to Brendan McGarry - Staff Writer for the Navy Times:
Political party affiliation has fallen sharply among those wearing the uniform today, a new Military Times survey shows.
An exclusive survey of some 1,800 active-duty troops shows the percentage of self-identified Republicans has decreased by one-third since 2004, from 60 percent to 41 percent, while the percentage of self-identified independents has nearly doubled to 32 percent during the same period.
These career-oriented officers and mid-grade and senior enlisted members are still far more conservative than liberal, but they are less likely today to identify with the GOP, the survey shows.
Much of the shift appears to have occurred only very recently, with the percentage of troops identifying themselves as Republican dropping nine percentage points from 2008 to 2009 and the percentage of those calling themselves independents increasing 10 points over the same period.
Respondents are also more pessimistic about the mission in Afghanistan, more optimistic about Iraq and virtually divided about President Obama’s performance as commander in chief.
Complete results of the unique survey, now in its seventh year, appear in the current issue of Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times.
These Military Times survey results show that support for the Republican Party among senior members of the Army, the group most likely to identify as Republican, declined significantly between 2004 and 2006 before leveling off at about 49% in 2007. Also the data shows no corresponding change in support for the Democratic Party.

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