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More than two-thirds of military personnel surveyed in a poll released today said they trust President George w. Bush as commander-in-chief over Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry.
The poll of 655 active duty military personnel and family members by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey found 69 percent preferred Bush to lead the military, compared with 24 percent for Kerry. The poll, conducted from Sept. 27 to Oct. 5, also found 64 percent of the military respondents said the country is heading in the right direction, versus 31 percent who said it is moving in the wrong direction.
``The most striking thing to me was the question on right track/wrong direction,'' said Adam Clymer, political director for the survey. ``In the general public, that's been one of Bush's problems, where majorities have said it's going in the wrong direction for months.'' In the military, there is ``a level of optimism that's really sort of surprising to me.''
Military men and women are also more likely to vote than civilians, with 94 percent of military personnel reporting they plan to cast ballots, compared with 84 percent of eligible civilian voters. In a separate poll of the general population that surveyed 2,436 people from Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, 55 percent said the country was moving in the wrong direction, and 37 percent said it was heading in the right direction.
Civilians also favored Bush as commander in chief, the survey found, though only by 51 percent to 40 percent. The polls had a 4 percentage point margin of error.
`Hard to Poll'
``The military is hard to poll, it's hard to get accurate polling because a lot of them are deployed,'' said David Chasteen, 26, a former Merrill Lynch financial planner who served as an Army specialist in Iraq for roughly a year.
Chasteen, a Republican who voted for Bush in 2000, said he plans to vote for Kerry in November.
``These days, if you discount those who are deployed, you're probably discounting the number who are disgruntled with the current administration,'' he said, noting that he has many Republican colleagues in the Army who are actively campaigning for Kerry. ``It's just anecdotal, but anecdotes are interesting in a way polling isn't always.''
Annenberg's Clymer said that was one reason military families were surveyed. He also said it's possible that those deployed will be happier upon their return to the United States and vote for the incumbent.
``We did interview families of those deployed, and that's a pretty good indicator,'' Clymer said.
The survey did not ask for voting preference of military respondents because a 1948 statute prohibits polling service members about whom they intend to vote for, according to Annenberg.
Sixty-four percent of service men and women said it was worth going to war in Iraq, compared with 32 percent who said it was not -- 55 percent of those deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or in the region said it was worth going to war, while 40 percent of those deployed said it was not.
In the civilian survey, 45 percent said the war had been worth it compared with 51 percent who said it had not.
The military service records of the presidential candidates during the Vietnam War, more than 30 years ago, have become campaign issues this year during.
Kerry, who volunteered for service by enlisting in the U.S. Navy, received three Purple Hearts and Silver and Bronze stars after commanding Navy swift boats in Vietnam in 1968-69. He then opposed the war as the leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the war after returning to the U.S.
In 1968, Bush sought and accepted a position in the Texas Air National Guard. He was never deployed to Vietnam, and later had his flying status revoked after failing to take a physical.
There are about 133,000 U.S. military personnel in Iraq. As of 10 a.m. today, 1,086 U.S. military personnel have died in Iraq since the March 19, 2003 invasion, according to the Defense Department. There are approximately 1.4 million active duty military personnel, including about 500,000 active duty Army personnel, according to the Defense Department.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news...r=us_elections
The poll of 655 active duty military personnel and family members by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey found 69 percent preferred Bush to lead the military, compared with 24 percent for Kerry. The poll, conducted from Sept. 27 to Oct. 5, also found 64 percent of the military respondents said the country is heading in the right direction, versus 31 percent who said it is moving in the wrong direction.
``The most striking thing to me was the question on right track/wrong direction,'' said Adam Clymer, political director for the survey. ``In the general public, that's been one of Bush's problems, where majorities have said it's going in the wrong direction for months.'' In the military, there is ``a level of optimism that's really sort of surprising to me.''
Military men and women are also more likely to vote than civilians, with 94 percent of military personnel reporting they plan to cast ballots, compared with 84 percent of eligible civilian voters. In a separate poll of the general population that surveyed 2,436 people from Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, 55 percent said the country was moving in the wrong direction, and 37 percent said it was heading in the right direction.
Civilians also favored Bush as commander in chief, the survey found, though only by 51 percent to 40 percent. The polls had a 4 percentage point margin of error.
`Hard to Poll'
``The military is hard to poll, it's hard to get accurate polling because a lot of them are deployed,'' said David Chasteen, 26, a former Merrill Lynch financial planner who served as an Army specialist in Iraq for roughly a year.
Chasteen, a Republican who voted for Bush in 2000, said he plans to vote for Kerry in November.
``These days, if you discount those who are deployed, you're probably discounting the number who are disgruntled with the current administration,'' he said, noting that he has many Republican colleagues in the Army who are actively campaigning for Kerry. ``It's just anecdotal, but anecdotes are interesting in a way polling isn't always.''
Annenberg's Clymer said that was one reason military families were surveyed. He also said it's possible that those deployed will be happier upon their return to the United States and vote for the incumbent.
``We did interview families of those deployed, and that's a pretty good indicator,'' Clymer said.
The survey did not ask for voting preference of military respondents because a 1948 statute prohibits polling service members about whom they intend to vote for, according to Annenberg.
Sixty-four percent of service men and women said it was worth going to war in Iraq, compared with 32 percent who said it was not -- 55 percent of those deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or in the region said it was worth going to war, while 40 percent of those deployed said it was not.
In the civilian survey, 45 percent said the war had been worth it compared with 51 percent who said it had not.
The military service records of the presidential candidates during the Vietnam War, more than 30 years ago, have become campaign issues this year during.
Kerry, who volunteered for service by enlisting in the U.S. Navy, received three Purple Hearts and Silver and Bronze stars after commanding Navy swift boats in Vietnam in 1968-69. He then opposed the war as the leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the war after returning to the U.S.
In 1968, Bush sought and accepted a position in the Texas Air National Guard. He was never deployed to Vietnam, and later had his flying status revoked after failing to take a physical.
There are about 133,000 U.S. military personnel in Iraq. As of 10 a.m. today, 1,086 U.S. military personnel have died in Iraq since the March 19, 2003 invasion, according to the Defense Department. There are approximately 1.4 million active duty military personnel, including about 500,000 active duty Army personnel, according to the Defense Department.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news...r=us_elections
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