This Election Is Testing The Republican Loyalties Of Military Voters

[Rob L 3,811]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-impact-will-the-military-vote-have/

By Farai Chideya

Filed under The Voters

Published Sep 6, 2016

Graphics by Allison McCann and Ella Koeze

Alexander Hale, 25, a philosophy major at Miami University of Ohio, walks around campus on Aug. 26, 2016. Hale enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school, where he became a logistics and embarkation specialist for Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121.

Alexander Hale, 25, a philosophy major at Miami University of Ohio, enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school. He served as a logistics and embarkation specialist for Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121. MADDIE MCGARVEY

Alexander Hale, 25, says he hasnt decided which presidential candidate hell vote for, but one issue is uppermost in his mind: the drop in military spending under President Obama.1 As a Marine Corps veteran, he says he hopes for a reversal of that cutback.

Donald Trump, he says, is more likely to start to put funding back into the military. The deployments will be there. There will be more options. Units wont be hurting for funding so much. That also might directly affect whether he chooses to rejoin.

Hale, now a philosophy major at the Miami University of Ohio, is one of22 million veterans living in the United States, a powerful demographic group that trends Republican. There are also 1.3 million active-duty military members, 1.8 million dependents and nearly 741,000 U.S. civilian direct hires. Active-duty military service members are not allowed to speak on the record to the press about their political affiliations, but a July survey by Military Times (described as unscientific, since respondents opt in) found that they preferred Trump to Clinton 2 to 1, though the majority dislike both candidates (61 percent in Trumps case and 82 percent in Clintons).

Alexander Hale, 25, a philosophy major at Miami University of Ohio, stretches at his apartment before going for a jog on Aug. 26, 2016. Hale enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school and stays in shape so that hes eligible to rejoin the military if he chooses.

Hale, shown here stretching at his apartment before going for a jog, says he stays in shape to remain eligible to rejoin the military if he chooses. MADDIE MCGARVEY

An NBC News/Survey Monkey poll in mid-August found that Trump was leading Clinton by 10 points 51 to 41 percent in military households, even after he angered many veterans groups by feuding with a Gold Star Muslim family that had lost a son in Iraq. (Blacks and Latinos in military households chose Clinton over Trump, though by lower margins than among the general population.) A Fox News poll in early August found Trump ahead of Clinton by 14 points in early August among veterans. But that lead is smaller than those of previous Republican candidates, possibly because of Trumps remarks about the Gold Star family and his criticism of military interventions. At this point in the cycle, John McCain had a 22-point lead among veterans in 2008, and Mitt Romney was up 24 points in 2012.

Military voters, notes Peter Feaver, a professor of political science at Duke University, encompass a wide range of demographic groups and ideologies, with the most senior military professionals tending to be the most conservative and Republican. The reason Trump is not doing as well as previous Republican candidates with military voters, he said, is that Trumps message might resonate more with World War II and Korea veterans, who are aging and passing on. In particular, he calls Trumps relationship to the Vietnam cohort of veterans fraught.

[Jacque67 7,328]

Among the 88 generals and admirals who endorsed Donald Trump on Tuesday was a commander who once reportedly demanded President Obama produce his birth certificate, an Air Force general who was reprimanded for his role in a deadly 1996 crash, four commanders who were present at one of the biggest scandals in Navy history, and a special forces general known for spilling secrets and trying to turn military campaigns into religious crusades.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/06/the-disgraced-and-little-known-generals-backing-donald-trump.html

Only the best!!!!!

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

Among the 88 generals and admirals who endorsed Donald Trump on Tuesday was a commander who once reportedly demanded President Obama produce his birth certificate, an Air Force general who was reprimanded for his role in a deadly 1996 crash, four commanders who were present at one of the biggest scandals in Navy history, and a special forces general known for spilling secrets and trying to turn military campaigns into religious crusades.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/06/the-disgraced-and-little-known-generals-backing-donald-trump.html

Only the best!!!!!

So 93% of them are fine officers with outstanding careers that the Hillary camp could not find any unfounded absurd allegations to hurl at them

P.S. for the bed wetting liberal that wrote this story, who obviously does not know jack about the Military. The commander that was part of the 88 Generals or Admirals that endorsed Trump. Well ... Oh never mind, Vets will get the absurdity of it

[Jacque67 7,328]

Individual generals and admirals have traditionally been removed from their posts for misconduct or a failure to perform their duties. Cashiering a group of them en masse would be unheard of and could irrevocably tarnish the perception that the military remains an institution divorced from politics.

Under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, I think the generals have been reduced to rubble, Trump said at the NBC News Commander in Chief Forum, where he and his opponent Clinton appeared. They have been reduced to a point where its embarrassing to our country.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/trump-suggests-fire-the-generals-227862#ixzz4JcqYIDfj

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