On this day after Veterans Day, as we get back to work for a day before the weekend, we ponder the way military members affect the country once they have taken off the uniform. Politics is one of those ways. Just how do veterans vote and will it stay that way in the future?
The veterans vote is not monolithic, as military veterans are a diverse group. But because of the socially conservative attitudes prevalent in the military apparent across demographic divides, the veterans vote trends Republican.
According to the Military Times in November of 2020, “A Morning Consult Poll of more than 2,700 military and veteran voters last month also found 52 percent of veterans planning to vote for Trump and 42 percent of veterans planning to vote for Biden. As noted by NPR, winning the Veteran vote was essential for Trump’s chances at victory in November. Exit polls showed that President Trump won the votes of military veterans by a big margin in 2016. And if you look at states where the count was close, the military vote might even have equaled the entire margin of victory. In fact, polls leading up to the election suggested that Trump is similarly popular among likely voters in military households: 51 percent view him favorably and 47 percent view him unfavorably,” according to The Morning Consult.” In the final analysis polls showed that Trump won the vet vote 54 to 44.
In 2022 and 2024 that Republican margin will increase. A big reason for it will be the Afghanistan bugout. Not only do many veterans have friends still in uniform, but many have served in Afghanistan. The personal humiliation to Afghanistan vets is deep. Not only did they probably lose friends over there, but now they ask themselves: For what?
As someone who served in the military in the 80s, I can tell you most veterans thought, after our victories in the Cold War and Desert Storm, that we would never again see America defeated as we were in Saigon in 1975. In Kabul in 2021, we saw it. A lot of us served with people who were Vietnam vets and we can only imagine what demons the Kabul debacle brought to the surface for them.
This abomination will be laid straight at the feet of Joe Biden and the Democrats. The lying, incompetent, napping, irresponsible, and Marxist leaning Biden administration will see the effect of Kabul at the polls in 2022, as vets will likely go for Republicans by better than 60 percent.
Republicans are also highly represented in the Republican Party by people like Dan Crenshaw and Tom Cotton. Up and coming Republican vet candidates like Derrick Van Orden and Eli Crane are likely winners next fall and will only increase the margin of victory. And in 2024, if military veteran Ron DeSantis is the Republican nominee? The vet vote will go 2 to 1 for Republicans.