# CNN: Troops abroad support Obama 6/1 **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 18, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-troops-abroad-support-obama-6-1/460444 "2008-08-18T16:43:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-troops-abroad-support-obama-6-1/460444/21 "2008-08-19T21:24:45Z")
Is the percentage of black Americans serving in the military higher than in the general population? Someone suggested to me that might be the reason for the numbers in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-troops-abroad-support-obama-6-1/460444/22 "2008-08-19T21:37:49Z")
It may be, but I doubt it’s 6:1 Black to White. But again, this is such a tiny sample size, based on what **RTF** found out, that it’s useless as an indicator of anything. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-troops-abroad-support-obama-6-1/460444/23 "2008-08-19T22:41:20Z")
A Gallup Poll shows McCain leading by a large margin. [Cite](http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/08/military_favors.html) > [@](#): > > While troops deployed abroad might be giving more money to Barack Obama, a poll released today says that John McCain will get the vast majority of votes from members of the military and veterans. > > According to Gallup, McCain leads Obama 56 percent to 34 percent, with 11 percent expressing no opinion or picking someone else. I don’t know how significant the “and veterans” is, but I can’t imagine Obama being anywhere near the walkaway champion either way. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-troops-abroad-support-obama-6-1/460444/24 "2008-08-19T22:46:12Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] 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. [/QUOTE] I had similar thoughts. Given the generally low rates of pay for active military personnel I would be surprised if the absolute numbers for donations to political campaigns were very high. Most military families just can’t spare much to donate. Obama has run a much more effective grass-roots fundraising campaign than McCain has. Inspiring people, even those on tight budgets, to give to his campaign is one of his strengths, and one of the most remarkable things about how he has conducted his fundraising. Imagine 300,000 overseas active duty personnel. 134/300,000 ~= 0.04% That’s hardly a broad base of support, and what he needs from them is votes, not money. Every trend and poll I’ve seen shows votes from military personnel go heavily to Republicans in the modern era. Have a reputable polling organization ask military personnel who they plan to vote for and if you come up with a 6/1 ratio in Obama’s favor, that’s news. This? I’m thinking this is non-news beefed up by headline writers desperate for something to fill the 24/7 news cycle. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-troops-abroad-support-obama-6-1/460444/25 "2008-08-19T23:39:22Z")
> **[News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines](https://www.aol.com/news/)** > > Get breaking news and the latest headlines on business, entertainment, politics, world news, tech, sports, videos and much more from AOL ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-troops-abroad-support-obama-6-1/460444/26 "2008-08-19T23:41:50Z")
From [QUOTE=NurseCarmen] > **[News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com](https://www.aol.com/news/)** > > Get breaking news and the latest headlines on business, entertainment, politics, world news, tech, sports, videos and much more from AOL [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain’s haul. Ron Paul… the hell? Is he expected to be a player as an independent, or is this just counting his donations before he dropped out? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-troops-abroad-support-obama-6-1/460444/27 "2008-08-20T01:17:13Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Ron Paul… the hell? Is he expected to be a player as an independent, or is this just counting his donations before he dropped out? [/QUOTE] Again, the numbers are minuscule. The Gallup poll you cited is the more relevant number, although, like you, I wish Gallup had given the splits for active duty military v. veterans. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-troops-abroad-support-obama-6-1/460444/28 "2008-08-21T09:07:48Z")
[QUOTE=Mtgman] I had similar thoughts. Given the generally low rates of pay for active military personnel I would be surprised if the absolute numbers for donations to political campaigns were very high. [/QUOTE] I’m making about 6 figures on a military salary and being in Iraq, I have nothing else to spend money on. Deployed soldiers make thousands more than nondeployed soldiers, and they have less to spend money on. FWIW, until this election I have never donated money to a candidate. I’ve now donated every month for the past three months. How exactly did they determine their statitistics? How do they know if someone who is donating is a deployed soldier? Do they count each person one time? Or do they count each donation seperately? I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-troops-abroad-support-obama-6-1/460444/29 "2008-08-21T13:50:55Z")
Sorry, but I haven’t a clue. This was a two-minute blurb on CNN, if that long. Apparently **RTF** saw something with more detail, but I did not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-troops-abroad-support-obama-6-1/460444.md?page=1)