Americans trust the military a bit more now, but much less than during war years, survey finds
After several years of declining trust, Americans confidence in the military went up in 2024, a national poll found.Matt White
Posted 18 Hours Ago
About half of Americans have a high confidence in the military, more than a year ago but less than recorded during years of heavy combat in Afghanistan. Army photo by 1st Lt. Riley Botz.
Slightly more than half of Americans have a “great deal of confidence” in the U.S. military, an increase from a year ago after several years of sharp drops, a national survey found. However, the level of trust between Americans and their military is still far below where it was during years of active combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The annual Reagan National Defense Survey released Thursday found that 51% of respondents held the survey’s most positive view, the first time more than half of those polled held that opinion since 2021, the year the Afghanistan war ended in a chaotic withdrawal.
However, the number is still far lower than when the war was still being fought. A high of 70% of respondents gave the military their highest marks in confidence in 2018.
The survey asked roughly 2,500 people to rank their confidence in various public institutions, with responses of a “great deal” of confidence, “some” confidence, “a little” or “not much at all.” The military got the highest scores of any institution with 82% at “some” confidence or higher.
Police and law enforcement were closest, with 77% having “some” confidence, but just 34% choosing “a great deal.” Scores of “some” confidence or higher in other areas of government included election administrators at 53%, the presidency at 45%, the Supreme Court at 48%, Congress with 39% — just 9% said they had a “great deal” of confidence in Congress — and the news media 33%.
The highest scores came when the pollster asked if the federal government should spend more money on the military. Nearly 4 out of 5 respondents (79%) favored more military spending with half strongly in favor. That level of support, Reagan officials said, was the highest ever registered in the polls, surpassing the 77% of a year ago.
The public appetite for military spending came just ahead of border security (74%) and far ahead of foreign aid (43%), but well behind Social Security (89%), infrastructure (89%), health care (84%), and education (83%).
The annual survey is produced by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, which describes itself as dedicated to the “unfinished work” and “timeless principles” of the staunchly conservative Republican president. The survey’s respondents, according to its reported data, were overwhelmingly registered to vote and 73% white, but split evenly in both their 2024 presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and in identifying as Republicans or Democrats. The respondents described themselves as “conservative” rather than liberal by a 34-27 margin, with 35% choosing the term “moderate.” Respondents were relatively evenly distributed in both their ages and geographically across the country.
About 1 in 5 said they were a military veteran or lived with one.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/americans-trust-military-2024/
