Military Times Poll Shows Skepticism for New Commander in Chief
EmailThe Military Times today published a poll indicating that about 60% of active duty servicemen and -women are uncertain or pessimistic about their new commander in chief. One third say they are optimistic, including eight out of 10 African-American servicemen and -women.
The poll also indicates that most active duty servicemen and -women oppose repealing the Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell policy prohibiting gays and lesbians from service openly in the military. Nearly 10% say repealing the policy would cause them to leave the military as soon as they could.
The raw data can be found HERE. The survey itself comes with the caveat that the group polled "under-represents minorities, women and junior enlisted service members, and over-represents soldiers." The poll is of its readers, and is not scientific.
- jpt
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>>Nearly 10% say repealing the policy would cause them to leave the military as soon as they could.>>
Oh, please! Where are they gonna go? Anybody who is that ignorant isn’t exactly a desirable candidate for employment. Better start practising “would you like fries with that?”
The military would be better off without these knuckle scrapers.
Posted by: Carolinagirl | January 1, 2009, 8:59 pm 8:59 pm
It wasn’t a poll by any normal standard. It was a survey of subscribers to the newspaper who responded to a questionaire.
Posted by: Jerry Skurnik | January 1, 2009, 9:04 pm 9:04 pm
That’s who goes into the military. People who can’t find a job any other way. They go in because they have no where else to go.
Posted by: Rick | January 1, 2009, 9:11 pm 9:11 pm
Rick…there are plenty of career individuals who are in the military. My best friend has been in the military pilot in a combat area for 23 years and just signed up for ten more years. He has a wife and two kids in college. God bless him.
Posted by: boxcar | January 1, 2009, 9:16 pm 9:16 pm
Misleading, inaccurate blog entry.
This was just a reader survey of subscribers to a few military magazines. Why wasn’t that mentioned here?
The article states:
“The findings are part of the sixth annual Military Times survey of subscribers to Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times newspapers.”
Posted by: Danny | January 1, 2009, 9:33 pm 9:33 pm
“The survey itself comes with the caveat that the group polled “under-represents minorities, women and junior enlisted service members, and over-represents soldiers.”
So does the “survey” really tell us anything, then? It’s not a scientific poll.
Posted by: mary | January 1, 2009, 9:33 pm 9:33 pm
The Military Times is biased journalism, and their polls are skewed. This reads like a Bush.Cheney.Rice.Rove marketing push to undermine the President elect and Commander In Chief, Vice President elect, and the new administration elect. Unfortunately, this type of poll is very typical of these types of personalities like Bush.Cheney.Rice.Rove since they are selfcentered and selfrighteous to think the world won’t be effective without them. The opposite will more than likely occur. Of course, we may uncover possible groups recruited by this soon to be former administration to undermine the Office of the President elect of the United States of America, and that is a high crime of treason. Therefore, and hopefully these men realize the dangers in doing such crimes, which can be life in prison or the death penalty if found guilty of such high crimes of treason. Also men and women who have failures in their lives use defense mechanisms to boost their own failed personalities to avoid public criticism by creating deflections to remove failure from them and place upon someone else, as in this case, Bush deflect towards Obama, Cheney deflect towards Biden, Rice deflects towards Clinton, and so on.
As communication specialists, we see these types of behaviors in high profile government and corporate executives, which has everything to do with the self defeating ego. We saw this type of ego in Nixon.
Posted by: Gg51 | January 1, 2009, 9:34 pm 9:34 pm
I woudl not serve again under this left wing, I hate the military, piece of crap. The democrats will throw the military under the bus as they ALWAYS HAVE..WE SURRENDER splineless Harry Reid and the stupid one from the gay state of Calif Nancy Pelosi are not fit to carry my jock strap. and this is one man’s Opinion but sound like the opinion of MANY others. This country will be run over soon, and the hollywood dip shits and the Dems will just go to another country, they are not willing to fight for this country, just like the “blame it on America” media
Posted by: who cares | January 1, 2009, 9:41 pm 9:41 pm
I’d be more interested in how few have faith in Bush.
Posted by: JR | January 1, 2009, 9:41 pm 9:41 pm
Hey boxcar, are either of those kids you mentioned the “product” of the “career individual” you think is so blessed or was he to busy “being with the boys”?
Posted by: JR | January 1, 2009, 9:45 pm 9:45 pm
who cares: “this is one man’s Opinion…” Thankfully, the US is organized under democratic principles and your opinion is outweighed by the significantly larger majority of people who supported Senator Obama. And you well represent another founding principal: You’re welcome to whine about it as much as you want.
Posted by: jhw539 | January 1, 2009, 10:10 pm 10:10 pm
The military poll probably was also unfavorable to Bill Clinton sixteen years earlier, who has no military experience at all, but seem to do well in economy during his presidency while kept bombing Iraq fiercely as commander-in-chief, but short of starting a major land war as W. Bush did later. W. Bush did not have much real military experience either although he flew military jet a few times in the south when his father, a WW2 hero, was the VP
Posted by: austin | January 1, 2009, 10:23 pm 10:23 pm
The Military Times is nonsense not journalism. Barack Obama is on point to be warmly received by the professional military. The kooks in there, well….there are allways kooks.
Posted by: Kater | January 1, 2009, 10:40 pm 10:40 pm
Military Times. Never heard of it. Thank goodness the military does not make the decisions on war and peace but just follow orders and it is we the people who will decide what is best for the country. Wonder how many of those voting in this mickey mouse newspaper know about the ideals that the United States was founded on and the shaped until today. As the poet Tennyson would say about the military of today, were he to write the poem today. Theirs not to reason why (why Obama) theirs to do or die into the Afghan valley of death that Bush has sent you to do or die. Brave soldiers, America is proud of you even though your current commander-in-chief George W. Bush may not have been the smart one and so like the rest of us, hope that the President elect Obama will use the military sparingly strategically and carefully and treat it with honor and dignity.
Posted by: gjkotw01 | January 1, 2009, 10:54 pm 10:54 pm
It’s unfortunate that many service men and women feel this way. I’m a Cadet at West Point and from personal experience the distrust and or pessimisim many feel towards Barack Obama goes back to just overly ignorant miss perception of the democratic party as a whole. Many feel that Obama will cut military spending which is not even close to the truth, but all this just goes back to many service men and women not being informed.
Posted by: Gears57 | January 1, 2009, 10:56 pm 10:56 pm
Look at all the Obama supporters here that say that just because a poll does not favor their Obama, well, gosh darn, it must not be accurate!
the American voters have betrayed our servicemen and women, by electing this puny, inexperienced, and corrupt piece of trash Obama. A man who even refuses to prove his eligibility to be President by concealing and sealing his original BC. Our soldiers deserve better, they are sworn to uphold the Constitution, they are sworn to follow the CIC, and this Prez-elect won’t even have to decency to pull out this stupid document, his original BC, and instead spend thousands to fight lawsuits in this regard?
A man with dangerous associations, including Ayers, who bombed the pentagon, whose bombs have killed law enforcement, and who planned on bombing Fort Dix, an Army base? How could you betray our soldiers like that by electing this man?
God Bless our soldiers, and I am so sorry my soldier brothers and sisters that the American voters have let you down.
Posted by: decentAmerican | January 1, 2009, 10:57 pm 10:57 pm
Military Times polls were always favorable to Bush. Enough said.
Posted by: Thinking | January 1, 2009, 11:06 pm 11:06 pm
the American voters have betrayed our servicemen and women, by electing this puny,
**************************************
Beytrayed is a strong word. I thought they were there to serve, not run the country. Vote they can, but in the end they must except what the public determines.
Posted by: Thinking | January 1, 2009, 11:10 pm 11:10 pm
How convienent for those who’s safety depends on the US military has a “let them eat cake” attitude towards their working conditions and personal views. Just wait until they bring back the draft and we’ll see how your views are affected THEN! Somebody’s got to fight all of these Bush/Clinton/Obama wars of agression against foreign lands; And considering the burn rate due to depleted uranium exposure, toxic chemical exposure, electrocution thanks to shoddy wiring, a suicide bomber, or just walking down the street outside the green zone…. Obama and his neophytes in congress Democrat and Republican in name only, are going to have to replenish the stocks of “cannon fodder” (their words NOT mine!) to continue the abysmal status quo. But don’t blame me, you voted for “Change”, right? Well, let me know when something EVER does. Okay??? It’s a deal. Congnitive dissonance is NO excuse for embracing tyranny at home or abroad!
Posted by: please! | January 1, 2009, 11:13 pm 11:13 pm
is this article a shock to some people?! why would ANY member of the military think that a unexperienced, party following, liberal democrat would make a good commander in chief?! wow, what a shocker ABC… lol
Posted by: tim | January 1, 2009, 11:16 pm 11:16 pm
also, to whom it may concern, did anyone happen to see that little tidbit of information from iraq today? COALITION TROOPS HANDED CONTROL OF THE GREEN ZONE OVER TO THE IRAQIS. not that any of us stupid americans actually WANT to know whats going on over there. apparently this is the case, because the main stream media sure isnt telling us. happens to be quite a big deal (success) in the war, but ahhh who cares right? not when you have an agenda to follow.
Posted by: tim | January 1, 2009, 11:23 pm 11:23 pm
What Tapper doesn’t seem to understand, or else deliberately chose to leave out, is that this is an unscientific, non-random poll of Military Times subscribers. It is completely wrong to claim that such a poll accurately reflects the opinions of the much, much larger and more diverse group of active duty service members.
Posted by: Patrick | January 1, 2009, 11:42 pm 11:42 pm
The US military men and women are our best and brightest. Plus, at least they are doing something positive for our country vice spewing hatred in these blogs back and forth. I’ll take the young men and women of our military anytime over the blogsitters. Secondly, the military men and women didn’t asked to get polled. Most didn’t even answer becuase they have more important things to do. Third, officer’s are typically republican and enlisted are typically democrats or independents. This year was the first time in history that the democratic party candidate received more donations in overall dollars than the republican, and the republican was a decorated military vet. That tells you a lot more than any manufactured polls, whereby the way they are worded and the response the poll taker is pushing for usually win out. Not very objective. Finally, instead of repeating the dismal record of the republicans who to this day cannot keep from blaming Pres Clinton for anything under the sun, it is probably best to concentrate on the future and how we can regain our greatness as a nation and as a people than to obsess on the past. In order to do this, we need to let Pres Bush retire and quit bashing him into oblivion. He was elected twice. One may have been questionable but the second time wasn’t. Pres elect Obama won fairly and squarely and like it or not we all need to pray for him to help lead us out of this very dire period in US history. Grow up folks. Focus on the future not the past. Think of ways we can be better not castigate everyone that disagrees with you. We need everyone to do their part as Americans. Without everyone’s best effort, we are that much less of a nation we could be.
Posted by: Chief P | January 1, 2009, 11:44 pm 11:44 pm
Sorry. One more comment. The Army Times isn’t a mandatory magazine for military members. Those that wish to buy subscriptions pay out of their own pockets. Also, those who are generally happy with the outcome of the election or have too many more important things to do (i.e fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, etc) seldom write in to express an opinion to a newspaper or magazine survey. While I do purchase the magazine and am a 25 year vet with two sons in the army serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and all of us supported Pres elect Obama, I fully understand why others might have reservations. But I guarantee one thing, they all want the new Commander in Chief to do an outstanding job (unlike some civilian Americans).
Posted by: Chief P | January 2, 2009, 12:03 am 12:03 am
Of course this same bunch supported Bush the last eight years, who was the worst commander in chief in our nations history.
Posted by: trooper | January 2, 2009, 12:03 am 12:03 am
Guess what, macho boys. He’s your boss. Live with it.
Posted by: John | January 2, 2009, 12:07 am 12:07 am
Come on, Jake! Where’s your mind???? Why not just report the result of one of Drudge’s bogus polls?
This poll is a total load of hokum – completely unscientific. It’s of subscribers to these rags who choose to respone, and is a lot like those dumb polls from Cosmopolitan or the National Enquirer – almost as bad as one of those online polls. Believe me, this group skews a LOT more conservative than the force as a whole.
As the article states:
“The findings are part of the sixth annual Military Times survey of subscribers to Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times newspapers. This year’s survey, conducted Dec. 1 through Dec. 8, included more than 1,900 active-duty respondents.”
Cripes, man, get real. Pretty soon you’ll be reporting the results of some online radio button poll from CNN.
Posted by: Tungsten | January 2, 2009, 12:35 am 12:35 am
I follow some of the blogs at the Army Times/Military Times and I hope that Obama has a plan to work with the military, because what I see there boarders on insubordination at times.
I’ve been reading a fascinating book called “The Limits of Power” by Andrew Begevich. It suggests that we have not had a decent general since Eisenhower. Interesting. Meanwhile, my prayers are with Obama. Freedom does not just mean the ability to accumulate as much as possible and citizenship is not all about shopping.
I can only hope that the fairness doctrine can help restore some reasonable level of serious discussion, because what many people are listening to and reading these days is simply hate. That is not going to bring us togeter or help our county be strong in these serious, serious times.
Posted by: Mom | January 2, 2009, 1:31 am 1:31 am
Jake: What the “grunts” think about
the CinC means more to me than does his
approval rating among the elites. Do
the Dems remember Gore et al trying
like hell to invalidate active duty
ballots from overseas in 2000?
Posted by: grizzly bare | January 2, 2009, 1:38 am 1:38 am
“When Worlds Collide”…..Obama and the
military. Count on it. But he…uh….
will…um, uh…address this in a later
sermon.
Posted by: grizzly bare | January 2, 2009, 2:02 am 2:02 am
So?
60% of active duty servicemen and -women are uncertain or pessimistic about their new commander in chief!
So am I, and I am an independent former democrat and Hillary supporter! :(
PEBO marinated in the cesspool of Chicago palm-greasing politics and thuggery, was not vetted and has no experience.
He is a presumptuous, prevaricating, equivocator playing a power game to get over the father who deserted him and the mother who put herself first!
Posted by: aware2u | January 2, 2009, 2:51 am 2:51 am
As a veteran who served from 1982 through 87 in the Marines and on a Naval Submarine from 1987-1993. Comments from those who claim to be vets and some thoughtless clown who claims to be “thinking” need to be careful because your neck is a blaze. Soldiers follow orders, without question. Service men serve our public. The Public has spoken decisively. Any fool who subscribes to the Navy Times are those that promote themselves as opposed to those that actually perform with guts and grit in combat roles. They are glory seekers that benefit from those that actually do the dangerous work. Just because they where the uniform, they feel justified in claiming glory. Those that know combat or hazardous duty commands don’t advertise or strut. These are the Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Rielly Cowards who have done nothing for their country but run their mouths. They are the worst cowards. The treasonous talk they are spouting about our commander in chief is a testimony to their cowardice hypocrisy.
Posted by: Robert A. Stevenson | January 2, 2009, 3:19 am 3:19 am
This isn’t a scientific poll. Jake, why even put this on your blog.
Posted by: Cameron | January 2, 2009, 6:54 am 6:54 am
Jake—come back when you have some real statistics. not this garbage in-garbage out mess. in this case “there are lies, damn lies and statistics.”
this is an invalid survey that isn’t a true poll of all active duty service men and women.
this only appeals to “aware2you”: “PEBO marinated in the cesspool of Chicago palm-greasing politics and thuggery, was not vetted and has no experience.” he (or she) is only interested in these pseudo-surveys to trash the new president. talk about hate and vile bile. as if this person woould ever have voted for Hillary Clinton, lmao. just a Limbaigh/O’Reilly/Hannity hate baiter
Posted by: Paul Wall | January 2, 2009, 8:05 am 8:05 am
Obama had 2009 Navy contributors vs. McCains 841. Says it all. Who cares about some off-beat poll geared towards Republicans.
Posted by: Common Sense | January 2, 2009, 8:15 am 8:15 am
cheney needs to spend some time behind bars after his actions over the last 8 years. bush needs to go to Texas and stay out of the way. A breath of fresh air will be coming to DC on January 20th. It is going to take a couple years to clean up the mess from the bush/cheney boys.
Posted by: pt | January 2, 2009, 9:36 am 9:36 am
The poll is of its readers, and is not scientific.
Most troops go online for news not the Military Times.
Perhaps a scientific poll would be better as a news story? But then Drudge wouldn’t put it up on his front page. I bet most of the media picked this story up from Drudge?
Posted by: William | January 2, 2009, 9:42 am 9:42 am
Jake…
You never cease to amaze me.
Posted by: Omentum | January 2, 2009, 10:00 am 10:00 am
The Military has no faith in Obama.
He will be a one term president.
Posted by: Peace Train | January 2, 2009, 10:05 am 10:05 am
The Military has no faith in Obama.
He will be a one term president.
Posted by: Peace Train | Jan 2, 2009 10:05:41 AM
====================================
Well THIS military member is one of the EXTEMELY OPTIMISTIC one. Everyone I conversate with in the military are optimistic as well.
If you want to make a statement, you put it in a poll. You skew the numbers to state your opinion and you publish the poll.
Don’t believe everything you see.
P.S. Santa Claus is a fictional character. Hate to bust your bubble.
Posted by: Omentum | January 2, 2009, 10:28 am 10:28 am
It is a interesting article.
Posted by: NC voter | January 2, 2009, 10:46 am 10:46 am
Dear Peace Train, Please read “The Limits of Power” if you read anyone else’s writing. Talking the way you do is no way to put our country back in order. It is going to take all of us – and giving up the idea that accumulating as much as we possibly can is the definition of freedom. There are higher purposes for human beings, as, I am certain, you understand. Happy New Year, love, Mom
Posted by: Mom | January 2, 2009, 10:50 am 10:50 am
I am a retired officer of the Military. I have done more to help the US than Obama ever will.
Posted by: Peace Train | January 2, 2009, 11:39 am 11:39 am
Someone comes up with some data that says there are some people who are not confident in the liberal messiah. So naturally that data is flawed, the source is flawed, the have some hidden agenda with Bush…LOL….what a group of fools.
As far as someone claiming Clinton did so well…that too is a joke. He drew so many lines in the sand for the Bosnia situation and then backed down that no one took him seriously there at all. His management of Somalia in 1993 was a complete cluster-****. He had numerous opportunities to get Bin Laden and missed on them all.
There are legit reasons why the men & women of the armed forces are concerned by an Obama Administration. Lets see, he was just another state legislature when he ran for the US senate. He won, and within just a scant few months, he decided to run for the President’s office. Exactly where in all that time did he gain the skills required to govern anything, let alone make decisions that military can have confidence that he will stand behind.
Oh, I’m sorry, I forget…none of that mattered when people elected him. Well, it is about to matter a whole lot!
After all the BS from liberals about no exit strategy for Iraq, WHY HAVE YOU NOT BEEN ASKING FOR AN EXIT STRATEGY FOR AFGANISTAN???
Obama has stated many many times that he wants more forces there. Strange we dont hear a peep about how many Billions a month we will be spending there, or nothing about an Exit Strategy!
More Liberal Hypocrisy!!!!
You bash Bush for this, so why are you not asking these questions of Obama?
Posted by: Mike_C | January 2, 2009, 11:43 am 11:43 am
I am a retired officer of the Military. I have done more to help the US than Obama ever will.
Posted by: Peace Train | Jan 2, 2009 11:39:04 AM
================================
Thank you for your service to our country.
No thank you for your insubordination to the President Elect if you were still in the military.
Please care to elaborate on your new career as a fortune teller. How do you know Obama will do less than you did for this country?
Please elaborate on your great prophetic powers.
Posted by: Omentum | January 2, 2009, 12:04 pm 12:04 pm
“No thank you for your insubordination to the President Elect if you were still in the military.
Please care to elaborate on your new career as a fortune teller. How do you know Obama will do less than you did for this country?
Please elaborate on your great prophetic powers.
———————————–
Omentum,
He does not need any special powers. By Definition he has already done more for this country than Obama will. He is a RETIRED officer. That means at least 20 yrs of service. Obama has not yet served a single year. I do not count his little foray in the Senate. He was not there but a few months before he decided to get back to campaigning.
Anyone who puts in 20 or more has already sacrificed more than any politician who has not served in the military! If you can’t understand that, then you by defintion are just plain ignorant!
I am not sure if this honorable man is married or not, but it is a given that any military wife has sacrificed more for her country than Michelle has had to.
His comments are not insubordination at all. They are based on his personal expereince. You liberals are amazing, you attempt to destroy someone like Sarah Palin, but then you turn around and try to make us beleive Obama is somehow a more qualified person. He is without question a great campaigner, but he has ZERO, REPEAT ZERO expereince at governing anything!
I hope he is sucessful, but the doubts from those in the military are well founded.
Posted by: Mike_C | January 2, 2009, 2:18 pm 2:18 pm
Military men and women could go with Bush and Cheney, the warmongers, Obama is a great leader who will brillantly do war when necessary but he is for peace and will bring peace everywhere and not wars as Bush and Cheney have done.
Posted by: BKMC | January 2, 2009, 5:22 pm 5:22 pm
“The poll is of its readers, and is not scientific.”
Why save the most (or only, really) important piece of information for the last sentence? It is well-known that Military Times’ subscribers are more conservative than the average member of the military, and yet their pro-Republican polls are frequently being used as if they were representative of the military as a whole.
Posted by: El_Pajaro | January 2, 2009, 5:54 pm 5:54 pm
This poll was completely bogus, but that won’t stop the clueless corporate media goofballs from hyping it, since it gives the results they want their readers to believe.
The Military Times poll was made up of a SELF-SELECTING population of their readership, which is disproportionally old, retired, angry white males. It’s no different than countless online polls that showed McCain winning 4-to-1 against Obama or Obama winning 4-to-1 against McCain, depending on which web site was running the poll.
Here’s what the Army Times own web site says about their “methodology:
Although public opinion pollsters use random selection to survey the general public, the Military Times survey is based on responses from those who chose to participate. That means it is impossible to calculate statistical margins of error commonly reported in opinion surveys, because those calculations depend on random sampling techniques.
Posted by: Len | January 2, 2009, 7:11 pm 7:11 pm
Someone comes up with some data that says there are some people who are not confident in the liberal messiah. So naturally that data is flawed, the source is flawed, the have some hidden agenda with Bush…LOL….what a group of fools.
___________________________________
The survey was “non-scientific”. Here is some “true” data for you:
During the campaign, troops deployed overseas donated to Obama’s campaign by a 6 to 1 margin.
Military votes represent 15% of total Presidential votes of which 44% of them voted for Obama.
Obama had countless endorsements of over 25 Generals and high-ranking Military Personnel.
Contrary to your idea that Obama does not have “the skills required to govern anything, let alone make decisions that military can have confidence that he will stand behind.”, I think the Military who donated to his campaign, voted for him and supported him speak the truth. You are simply chewing gum for the right wing radicals…
Posted by: Paige | January 2, 2009, 9:35 pm 9:35 pm
Obama has a couple of good video clips on Army Times now. I think that our entire country is going to undergo a great and positive transformation. It won’t just be Obama – it has to come from us. It is sooooo time for people to realize that freedom is not just the ability to accumulate more stuff and democracy has to involve face-to-face discussion.
Posted by: Mom | January 3, 2009, 11:24 pm 11:24 pm
Much ado about nothing. It was a survey of subscribers to the newspaper who responded to a questionaire.
Posted by: Jackson | January 5, 2009, 6:55 pm 6:55 pm
Those who have not served in the military are just as patriotic as those who have. And military personnel who are still serving and speak out against their Commander-in-Chief should be accused of treason – not HIGH treason, but treason, nonetheless.
Posted by: Marisa | April 9, 2009, 6:20 pm 6:20 pm