drumpf loves the troops, especially when he can hide behind them for protection for his bad decisions and policy, but a recent Military Times Poll finds that they don’t really love him back, especially the better educated Officers...
...demographically, you’d expect officers to support the president more than the enlisted force. The enlisted force is racially more representative of American society, with African Americans slightly overrepresented at just over 19 percent of the force, compared to 13 percent of the United States as a whole. And enlisted service members are younger; 71 percent of them are under 30, compared to just 36 percent of the officer corps. Women make up only about 15 percent of the military, both among the enlisted force and the officer corps.
As a result, you should expect officers — who are more likely to be older white men — to support Trump more than a younger, racially more diverse group. Officers are also twice as likely to identify as Republican than the civilian population, and half as likely to identify as Democrats.
But the Military Times poll shows that only about 31 percent of the officer corps looks favorably on Trump, while more than half disapprove. Meanwhile, support for the president among enlisted service members remains comparatively high, at more than 47 percent. Why?
Military officers are among the most highly educated groups in the United States. Only about 10 percent of enlisted forces have a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent. But you need a four-year degree to become an officer. In fact, almost 42 percent of military officers have advanced degrees in security studies, technical fields and/or the sciences. By the time an officer becomes a colonel, he or she is likely to have two or three master’s degrees from various training and education programs sponsored by their service. “Officer,” in other words, is almost a synonym for highly educated. So it may be unsurprising that officers support Trump about as much — or rather, as little — as highly educated civilians.
So next time drumpf struts onto a stage and brags how much the military loves him, you’ll know the truth.
They don’t.
And the more educated they are the less the likelihood that they do.