Libertarians and independents are eroding the GOP's milit | Military Times

TITLE: Libertarians and independents are eroding the GOP's military support

Military voters have long been considered a safe support bloc for Republican political candidates, but a new poll conducted by Military Times and Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families suggests conservatives shouldn’t take the troops for granted.

Nearly 40 percent of the active-duty service members surveyed in September said they don’t affiliate with either major political party, almost as many as those who consider themselves Republicans (about 43 percent). The survey included more than 2,200 responses, and IVMF analysts weighted the results to be scientifically representative of the total military demographic.

Two years ago, in a non-scientific survey of Military Times' active-duty readership, more than one-third said that neither Democrats nor Republicans had been strong advocates for the military, while 44 percent said they believed both major political parties were becoming less supportive of military issues. Over the nine years that question was asked in the annual survey, the percentage of respondents identifying as Republican dropped each year.
This trend is not unique to the military, of course. Nationwide, political party affiliation and satisfaction have fallen to historic lows. A Gallup poll conducted in January found that 42 percent of American voters identify as independents, the fifth year in a row that figure has been above 40 percent.

Approximately 29 percent of Americans now identify as Democrats and 26 percent as Republicans.

But the military, as a voting demographic, is mostly white males with a strong interest in defense issues, a group assumed to be overwhelmingly conservative in comparison to the general population. The new Military Times-IVMF poll suggests that, in reality, many of those votes may be up for grabs.

Right now, that service member support appears split between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Libertarian hopeful Gary Johnson. The poll showed Trump leads Johnson 37.6 percent to 36.5 percent, within the study’s 2 percent margin of error. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton drew 16.3 percent of troops' support.

About 15 percent of respondents identified as Libertarians, a figure that gives the third-party stronger representation in the ranks than the general population.