I just this minute saw on CNN that financial contributions from soldiers stationed overseas to Obama are about six times greater than those supporting McCain. Unfortunately, this story is not yet on CNN’s website. (Cite when available very welcome!) Even troops stationed in the US give a slight edge to Obama over McCain, but not nearly as overwhelmingly.
Assuming this is true, does it change your opinion of Obama vs. McCain on foreign policy if you have been a McCain supporter? Aren’t you a big supporter of listening about conditions ‘on the ground?’ The people reporting this seemed to think this mostly revolved around or was based in Iraq, although whether that was their opinion or had some basis in evidence wasn’t clear to me.
My only comment is that, if true, then it’s extraordinary, Generally you’d expect the rank-and-file members of the US military to support a Republican and a veteran, so Obama starts with a double handicap there. On the other hand, being black might help with the blacks in the military.
Being the candidate who wants to bring the troops home helps too. You don’t endear yourself to troops serving in a shithole for no good reason by telling them you want to leave them there for 100 more years.
Even assuming it’s true and that it’s the whole story, it doesn’t necessarily mean what you seem to think it means. Financial contributions don’t necessarily mean the same thing as broad based support…it just means that Obama’s supporters COULD be more fervent than McCain’s are. Perhaps McCain has a 10 to 1 edge in support in the military (figure just pulled out of the air for illustration), but only 1 person in that 10 send McCain any financial support. Or, maybe (for some reason), Obama supporters contribute 6 times more to his campaign because they have access to more funds or are simply more fervent in their support. Or, maybe some organization if funneling funds through the few Obama supporters in the military to disguise where the funds are coming from.
The point is though that there COULD be a lot of alternative explanations to this…or, I concede, it could be that Obama has more overall support from the military than McCain does. That seems fairly unlikely to me, but I suppose it’s possible.
Of the people in my family and those whom I am aquainted who are serving in our military none of them are supporting McCain.
My dad - retired military and republican, is not supporting McCain either. To me, this decision by him is more telling than those I know who are active military voting Obama.
Anti-Bush sentiment is pretty strong among those serving in Iraq right now. That translates to pro-Obama sentiment. You can’t keep treating military personel like garbage the way the Republicans have and expect to retain their political support just by wrapping yourself in the flag all the time.
Meaningless without context. How many are making contributions? I bet very few. Not at all the same as how many will vote for him or support him. I would say about 90% of those who are vocal about who they will vote for have said McCain around me. And I am currently surrounded by soldiers and we are about to head to Iraq. I certainly don’t feel a huge Obama movement going on here but I haven’t exactly taken a scientific poll.
Seems silly to try and guess from donations and “I know a solider and he’s deffinately voting for ______” stories. Surely some news organization must’ve actually done a scientific poll of troops posted outside the US. Certainly every other conceivable demographic has been polled by this point. Sadly google gives me nothing. Anyone have better luck?
I’ve heard the same story from another source. I believe it was a Time or Newsweek article (sorry, I can’t be more specific but I read both magazines and some newspapers back-to-back Saturday.) As I recall, they didn’t report it as high as 6-1; more like a 3-1 ratio in Obama’s favor. But they did report that troops serving in Iraq had a more pro-Obama ratio than troops overall did.
I agree. People with an agenda for change are more likely to get involved financially. What I would like to know is how the present stats relate to the last presidential election.
I remember a lot of Pubs clamoring in recent elections that the absentee ballots of American military personnel stationed abroad must be fully and fairly counted – and generously credited, in any case of doubt as to authenticity.
No doubt they will hold fast to this honorable line in the coming election.
The 6-1 edge is in contributions from troops serving overseas; the edge is smaller if troops stationed on American soil are included.
The 6-1 edge (in $$, not in donors) is also based on a mere 160 people in uniform, 134 of whom contributed to Obama, and 26 of whom gave to McCain.
It’s a good sign and all, but 134 Obama contributors and 26 McCain contributors out of 300,000 American troops stationed overseas sounds a good deal less impressive than 6 to 1.
