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The conventional wisdom suggests President Obama will struggle to win military votes, thanks in part to the Republican Party's traditional edge. But that what makes reports like these all the more interesting (via Joan McCarter).
Foreign policy, military funding and plans for U.S. troops abroad are providing plenty of chewy campaign fodder for President Barack Obama and his GOP rival, Mitt Romney. But fundraising reports shed light on what the armed forces think about the candidates. [...]
[T]he military's support has shifted toward Obama. Romney has consistently received little financial backing from military donors.
Based on reporting from the Center for Responsive Politics, including September fundraising, Obama has received $678,611 from military donors, far more than Romney's total of $398,450. As it turns out, Romney figure also narrowly trails Ron Paul's $399,274 in contributions from the military.
It's worth clarifying that "military donors" include contributions from members of the Navy, Marines, Army, Air Force, National Guard, Coast Guard, Department of Defense, National Defense University, Defense Acquisition University, and Americans in NATO. The most campaign donations have come from the Department of Defense itself, which heavily favors Obama over Romney.
McCarter added, "Military personnel overwhelmingly support Obama over Romney despite the pending cuts to defense. That could be because Obama has kept his promise to bring the wars to an end and because to Mitt Romney, the troops aren't anything more than an item on a laundry list."
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If it was front-line types, I'd say it was due to DADT being rescinded, or the way the Vets are being treated now.
But in the DoD, it could be VA issues, or possibly the idea that he actually listens to the Joint Chiefs and gives the military what they need. Rather than forcing more expensive weapons systems down their throat per orders from military contractors.
MIKE, I believe it has alot to do with VA issue's, The Military spending is hardware With what R&R are saying how can VA spending not be cut, Bush did it, They will too.
Romney keeps touting his intent to spend more on the military. However, evidently not one red cent of that is to pay the servicemen and women a living wage. If he did intend that, we would have heard it by now. There's a reason that Obama is doing better than expected.
I would imagine the military support Obama because Romney is completely out of touch with reality. Obama understands that with the type of warfare in which we have been engaged these past years, Napoleonic (frontal attack, all in a row) tactics are useless. More ships do not necessarily guarantee more strength.
Obama's "horses and bayonets" quote was classic...right down to explaining the other types of naval weaponry we have besides ships. He was able to showcase Romney's cluelessness in a spectacular way without actually saying it to his face. Well done, Mr. Obama! Kudos to you and your campaign staff for thoughtfully-crafted comments and a debate well won.
Armed Forces Overwhelmingly Support Obama in Donations:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/22/1148312/-Armed-Forces-overwhelmingly-support-Obama-in-donations
I hate to be one to state the obvious but having been a career soldier myself I might know a little about why.
To be blunt on the enlisted side of the house it's mostly minorities and the poor filling the ranks. On the officer side it's mostly college educated 20-30 somethings. those are the two of the largest groups of supporters of social justice and what could be termed "progressive causes" in America. They also represent the ones with the most to lose from bad foreign policy decisions.
I would also point out as became evident during the war in Iraq, a lot of young Republicans suddenly decided they had "Other commitments" and the older ones have always been better at sending other people to war than going themselves.
I will be the first person to thank men like John McCain for their service to this country but they are more the exception than the rule.
Thank you for your service, and your insights. The demographics you state haven't changed that much in the last 20 years or so, with regard to service members. I do think that some fatigue with being over-extended in the Bush years, along with Obama's VA policies, tend to swing things a bit.
I have 4 brothers who served (I didn't). At least 3 are conservative. The other I suspect has never voted. I've learned not to talk politics in my family.
Dragoon, as a VET myself, you stated it very well, Thank's for YOUR Commitment as as Lifer, I was USMC 82-90.
There are plenty of conservatives in the military but if the ones I knew were any indication they were more of what I think could be considered the "Classic Republican" model and definitely not NeoCons.
I was just speaking to pretty incredible Korea/Vietnam vet today for an article, and without prompting when we were talking about Vietnam (he knew I too was a vet) he said "We have to stop supporting liars who get good people killed." That is not an uncommon opinion from what I have seen (and I have a lot of military contacts from my work), and it even includes people I would call "traditional conservatives." There's a large evangelical wing in the military (most strongly in Special Ops, particularly the SEALs, followed by USAF and USMC, least in Army and Navy - I can't figure out the Hair Farce, that these people think airplanes fly because angels hold up the wings?), but they're also not high donators and they are outnumbered by the traditional USA and USN.
Who wants to be the last one to die in a war that wasn't worth fighting to begin with???
Well most of my experience was with regular army folks. Special ops is a whole different ward of crazy so I can't say I am surprised about the SEAL thing.
I think I can tell you something about the Air Force though. Some years ago there was a big dust up at the Air Force Academy for requiring Prayer and getting insanely religious.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/education/12academy.html?pagewanted=all
Isn't it ironic that folks are citing the national debt as a threat to the National Security, when the debt increased so dramatically to fight two wars that were supposed to strenthen our National Security...
Very ironic! lol
Isn't it ironic that folks consider our national debt as a threat to our National Security, when the increased so dramatically to fight two wars that were supposed to strengthen our National Security...
That's a good post. I'll help in copying and pasting it.
"...because to Mitt Romney, the troops aren't anything more than..."
His personal G.I.Joe soldiers to be ordered around whenever he chooses, just like W.!
The military knows exactly which one of these candidates are "working for them" - the President has increased V.A. funding, brought our troops home from Iraq, and is working to bring them back from Afghanistan; on the other hand rubber-stamp Romney has been slowly banging the drums for Iran, would slash V.A. funding and want to make those in the war zones pay higher taxes - it's a no brainer!
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012!!!
And SPEND when the Top BRASS say they don't want or need what R&R are proposing.
Romney has spoken in favor of privatizing the VA. As a VA "customer" that would make me vote against him even if I was a Republican.
That's rather too close to home for those of us who remember LBJ playing Air Marshall in the White House, to the extent of actually drafting the daily bombardment orders himself.
I wish Colin Powell would go ahead and endorse Obama already.
Dont forget also that the men and women of the military did not even get
a mention from Mitt in the convention. How is that for disrespect.
The military obviously knows an idiot when they see one.
Being former military myself, I can see why.
It's a good bet the conventions were on armed forces television, overseas, as well as the debates.
The total snub of our troops by the Republicans at the RNC speaks volumes, and the military folks won't forget that.
They don't forget things like Plastic Thanksgiving Turkey photo ops either...
Zeta, Thank's for your service, as you stated THE SNUBB, How in the world could they have NOT mention OUR Servicemen and Woman. They have done a fantastic job, endured more than anyone could imagine, Unfortunatley some made the Ultimate Sacrifice, I make sure and go out of my way to thank those I come across who have served. THEY all deserve the utmost respect and gratitude that WE can give to them, not the BOHICA.
It's an old, old story. And there's a reason Kipling is still very popular in the Services. (Do please follow the link.)
Speaking as the daughter of a vet, who is WAY more liberal than I am, it's nice to see this. My conservative friends who like to brag about all their family members who are in the military, which somehow makes their crazy points more valid, will see their heads explode over this.
You know, if they could believe reporting from the liberal biased media...
CW has almost always been that the "military" is conservative when, in reality, the people who tend to get interviewed or quoted and noticed have been conservative.
As a general rule, the higher the officer's rank, the more conservative the person and those are the ones most often trotted out for the "military's" response to some legislation or act.
I served for twenty years and there was always a large minority, if not an actual majority, of enlisted personnel who would be considered "liberal". If someone campaigned on "cuts" to Defense spending without saying where or what was to be cut, there'd be good chance members would vote against that person. If, on the other hand, the cutting was to be made via closing un-needed bases, cancelling unwanted and un-necessary equipment, that made a difference.
I remember in the years before I retired, we were scaling down bases.
This was during Rummy's reign, he was the worst Defense Secretary ever, and following the orders of The Dark Lord Himself, Dick Cheney.
If anyone thinks George W. Bush made any decision based on his own knowledge of what was happening around him, you're wrong. Uncle Dick ran the show, and Georgie signed the orders.
This is exactly what you'll get if Romney is elected. Only, Dick is replaced with Grover.
Republican plans for the military,
To them, are incredibly scary...
They are calling for wars,
Raising fatality scores,
While the REMFs sit at home, making merry...
BTW...
REMFs => Military slang, for Rear Echelon Mother F___ers...
Romney/Ryan == REMFs
Ok Mitt lets go over your offended checklist,
Women: Check
Minorities: Check
Teachers: Check
The Military Establishment: Check
Veterans: Check
Military Personnel: Check
The Spooks: Check
Oh for the luv of it next time we'll just do those you haven't pissed off.
The Powell Doctrine states that a list of questions all have to be answered affirmatively before military action is taken by the United States:
Ask any grunt - if you're going to go to war, you'd better have a DAMN GOOD REASON.
You can count my $$$ in that total! I think Dragoon21b has it right.
I spent a career in the military retiring in 2007. I also had been a lifelong Republican until recently. I admire(d) Senator McCain, respect his service, campaigned for him in 2000 and supported him in the last election until the Palin selection. That is when they lost me. Frankly, that is when they lost their flipping minds!
IMHO, the Republican party has become a party of plutocrats whose worldview is something like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, and just flat out haters. I like women and support total equality, don't judge people based on their skin color or where they are from; and have too damn many LGBT friends and colleagues (including from my military days) to deny them their rights! Hell, this is the stuff I/we had fought for!
I think the younger troops just don't hold the same values as Romney/Ryan and aren't interested in supporting them. As others have said, I also think that they don't have any love for a possible President or party that would recklessly send them in harms way.
Thanks for supporting all of us, with your's and your family's service and sacrifice. Republicans make it easy for the military to support Pres. Obama by blocking The Veterans Jobs Bill in Congress just so Pres. Obama won't create more jobs, even though the jobs this bill will create are for the men and women who put their lives on the line for us. This is the sort of job Republicans will do for veterans, so all of us need to make sure Pres. Obama keeps his job. The troops and their families don't support spending $2 trillion more on a military complex driven to supply big wars that Mitt Romney and his neo-con advisers are looking to start.
This report surprised me. I thought military voted overwhelmingly Republican.
What ultra-liberal drivel. But then that's Rach!
"Romney has spoken in favor of privatizing the VA. As a VA "customer" that would make me vote against him.." Good Post. Romney wants to increase troops to A-Stan, then he doesn't. What can you believe? Wars cause Service Connected Conditions that last a life time. Why short change Service Connected Veterans? Leave the VA System alone. That is what happens when Politicians "Talk the Talk who have never Walked the Walk".