Americans Lose Trust in Their Army Due to Politicization -

According to the Reagan Institute, only half of Americans have trust in the U.S. Army.
Around 2,500 citizens participated in the survey conducted in November 2022.
The general public blames the over-politicization of the Army as the reason for the decline in faith.

Results of the poll

The Ronald Reagan Institute recently conducted a public poll on their trust and confidence in the U.S. military. Surprisingly, the results of the survey show a bleak image.

In early November, around 2500 U.S. citizens participated in a poll after the midterm elections.

The results showed that only 48 percent show signs of trust in the U.S. Army. The other half does not trust the military. The trust percentage has increased slightly over last year’s 45 percent. But, it has remained at the low end for the past five years following 2018’s 70 percent in favour of the Army.

Shockingly, no other institution in the U.S. has seen this decline in popularity and public validation. Rachel Hoff, The Policy Director of the Ronald Reagan Institute, said:

“No other public institution has seen this stark decline as we have seen for the U.S. military. Yet, I’ll note that it still ranks at the top of our poll institutions.”

The main reason noted for the decline in public support was politicization. The Americans feel that military leaders have been unnecessarily active in U.S. politics.

Over-Politicization of The U.S Army

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Sixty-two percent of the respondents stated that military leaders are over-politicizing themselves. Meanwhile, thirty eight percent had a different view. The latter blame the Commander In Chief’s incompetence as the main reason for the military’s failure.

Furthermore, multiple interesting public opinions have come forth during the poll. For example, 57 percent of respondents think America must keep supporting Ukraine against Russia. But only 33 percent said that America should stay neutral as the U.S. already has enough conflicts.

The Democratic respondents mostly voted to support Ukraine in the war. On the other hand, Republicans were primarily neutral about the situation. About 82 percent of respondents view Russia as an enemy. The figure rose from last year’s 65 percent!

Roger Zakheim, the Ronald Reagan Institute’s Washington director, said:

“To me, the way I read it, despite these genuine concerns, the survey makes the respondents aware of those concerns; there’s still this continued support for Ukraine.”

Zakheim added, “The belief in peace through a commitment to America seems to be something that this entire poll shows and that a majority of Americans continue to believe is important.”

The survey summary states, “There is a decrease in people who were confident in the military ability to act in a professional, nonpolitical manner, from 40% to 35%”.

Summary of the poll

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The poll summary contains varying perceptions of military leaders in the general public. According to the survey, “these trends seem to demonstrate a connection between Americans’ sense of the military’s ability to perform its core function. Their perception is that leaders are becoming overly politicized.”

Around 54 percent of survey respondents strongly believe that the United States has an ambiguous strategy for managing its relationship with China. On the other hand, only 27 percent felt that the U.S. has a thoughtful approach.

More than 50 percent of the public supported reducing trade with China. Additionally, a bipartisan majority of Americans are against the Chinese invasion of Taiwan.