A new report shows quite a shift in contributions by members of the US military to Democratic presidential candidates. Historically the military has leaned strongly toward Republicans but Capital Eye, published by a campaign finance watchdog group, has found a sharp increase that suggests the GOP is losing the support of the troops.
In its report, Capital Eye says the shift began in 2003, almost the same moment the war began; 40% of military donations this year have gone to Democrats running for Congress and the White House, compared with 23% in 2002, the last election cycle before the war. Anti-war candidates are the beneficiaries.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama – who never served in the military — has received the most donations from uniformed personnel, about $27,000. The only anti-war candidate among Republicans, Ron Paul, leads his party’s hopefuls with at least $19,000 in contributions. Military donations so far for the 2008 elections total $330,000.
What’s more, uniformed service members vote. The Defense Department says the voter participation rate was 79% in 2004, compared with a mere 64% for the overall population. Capital Eye says that would translate into just under 2 million military votes next year.
More than enough — as we learned in 2000 — to affect an election’s outcome.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
ellaella – I’m really enjoying your blog, and I like your idea of mixing food and politics. You’re very creative and I like your writing style.
As Dennis Prager often says, polls and studies either confirm common sense, or they reveal an agenda.
Capital Eye is yet to establish that they don’t have a dog in this fight (dadmanly.blogspot.com/2007/09/eye-on-military-support.html). Until such time, citations of such a source provide weak support for any political argument.
Todd
Hi, troper – what a lovely surprise!
I think most publications, especially those inside the Beltway, have at least a puppy in this fight. That said, the factual material ($$) in the report I linked to is sourced by the FEC. That’s good enough for me.
In many ways, I think polls — like radio and TV ratings — can be made to show anything one wishes. If you read my Likability and Electability post, you might have noticed I linked to the full 21-page poll results for any wishing to read the pure facts and numbers for themselves. Few people have.
Thanks for the kind words and I hope you’ll be back.