Troops in survey back Bush 4-to-1 over Kerry

[UL_Approved]

In USA Today, results from a survey conducted by the Army Times shows results that represent a 4 to one lead for George Bush from responses.

Troops in survey back Bush 4-to-1 over Kerry

By Dave Moniz, USA TODAY

An unscientific survey of U.S. military personnel shows they support President Bush for re-election by a 4-to-1 ratio. Two-thirds of those responding said John Kerry's anti-war activities after he returned from Vietnam make them less likely to vote for him.

~snip~

Army Times Publishing sent e-mails to more than 31,000 subscribers and received 4,165 responses on a secure Web site. The publisher cautioned that the results are not a scientific poll. Its readers are older, higher in rank and more career-oriented than the military as a whole.

~snip~

Link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-10-03-bush-troops_x.htm

[coloradodem2005]

1. Are you F'ing kidding me?

God. They back a chickenshit who never served over a veteran. Jesus.

[WI_DEM]

2. unscientific, says it all.

[still_one]

3. why publish it, the publisher said it wasn't a scientific poll

out of 31000 subscribers only 4165 responses

[UL_Approved]

11. That's the key

If you look at the figures, between 1/7 and 1/8 of all troops sent the e-mail responded. Most troops are probably too afraid of retribution if they responded with their answer. In light of that, I truly commend the bravery of those who DID respond saying they supported John Kerry. It takes a lot of fortitude to do something like that.

If you ask me, this is a great sign for hope. Less than 3/4 of 1/7 of the troops (~10%) said they support Bush!

[susanna]

29. Those 4165 respondents must have been pretty motivated.

I think the poll was freeped. :-)

[calmblueocean]

43. How effing disgusting.

I'm so sick of our misleading say-anything-for-profit media.

[displacedtexan]

4. Considering the volunteer army demographic, I'm not surprised.

Gung ho types who want to blow things up and shoot "towel heads" for Jesus would naturally support George W. aWol.

[TimeToGo]

That poll means nothing -- why even publish it?

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[GaryL]

6. Oh for God's sakes!

This is usatoday. The only thing they're good for is printing sports odds.

[rustydog]

7. troops told their tour has been extended...

troops told that they have been reactivated after serving their enlistments...troops who have been called up to duty after retiring...troops who have been told they will serve 2 or 3 tours back Bush...
Yea, right, I'll believe that, and I'll believe Bush actually does chores on his "ranch" in Crawford. I'll believe Bush completed his requird time in TANG, I'll believe Bush is a Compassionate Conservative.

[LynnTheDem]

8. Bullshit.

Total bullshit.

Ft Hood base is seething with anti-bushness.

[TexasLady]

24. it sure is!!!!

the great majority of soldiers that i have talked to here feel this way.(do NOT support bush) i cant tell you how many times I have heard this. A very good friend of mine was in Gulf War I and he has been adamant about his hatred for Bushies, and the pResidents..both bushes.

Soldiers are going to the Dem Headquarters, and showing their support when they get back from this war. The only bumper stickers I see are on bushtwits cars, and its easy to tell the difference...most soldiers simply have nothing on their car.

god i hate the media.

[riverwalker]

9. totally bogus poll

The average soldier does not have a subscription to the Army Times, the poll was only subscribers.

"Army Times Publishing sent e-mails to more than 31,000 subscribers and received 4,165 responses on a secure Web site. The publisher cautioned that the results are not a scientific poll. Its readers are older, higher in rank and more career-oriented than the military as a whole."

[bunkerbuster1]

10. Let's repeat that:

"Its readers are older, higher in rank and more career-oriented than the military as a whole."

IOW, Bush bootlickers who'll freep a poll.

Fuck this. It's meaningless.

[jmowreader]

33. I never knew a lower enlisted soldier who had a subscription

unless he got it as a prize for winning Soldier of the Month or something. Sometimes you get it off the newsstand--especially if you're up for promotion to sergeant or staff sergeant and you want to check the cutoff scores--but usually you don't worry about it. OTOH, if you're a major or above you're in the minority if you don't have a subscription.

If this was a Leatherneck Magazine poll, I'd think different: my freeper brother told me that the Marine Corps League comes in to the boot camp companies and tells the recruits that if everyone in the company joins the Marine Corps League, they'll give a set of dress blues to the company's top graduate--so naturally everyone joins before they leave boot camp, and many Marines maintain their memberships.

Let me see...thirteen percent of the 31,000 subscribers (which themselves are only five percent of the Army) say Bush is preferred four-to-one over Kerry. On the other hand, 100 percent of the 101st Airborne Division says they're going to vote against Bush. Three thousand Army Times subscribers versus 16,000 Screaming Eagles? I'll take the Eagles.

"Eyes of the Eagle, Sir!"

[cubsfan forever]

36. Hear, Hear! n/t

Professor 2

[Cocoa]

12. welcome to DU!

thanks for posting this, it must have been hard to find such a totally meaningless poll, which claims bad news for Kerry, and at the same time claiming to show that "the troops" like Bush!

Here's an assignment for you, can you find a poll that shows terrorists overwhelmingly support Kerry?

:toast:

[NMDemDist2]

13. this is very old and if you notice they sent 31K and got 4K in response

do you think anyone who is voting AGAINST the CinC would tell anyone?

don't think so

get your panties out of a bunch will you please people?

[onehandle]

14. This is a month old article. Nice try. nt

[Fluffdaddy]

15. Bye Bye....................what's that smell ?

[DuaneBidoux]

16. Completely anecdotal

I sat next to a wife of a troop flying from the West coast to be with her husband stationed in Iraq who was going to get 5 days on the East Coast before shipping back. I asked her "Of course I'm assuming you're a big Bush backer." She said, "the troops don't really give a flying fuck...they just want to come home." (Her language WAS that strong).

[Touchdown]

17. This is a month old, and already dismissed.

Oct. 3rd. Why are you dredging up outdated and irrelevant unscientific surveys?

[UL_Approved]

34. I apologize

I have only been in the DU for about 3 days now and was unaware of this article being as old as it is. I was trying to show that it doesn't support Bush at all.

[gemlake]

37. Then change your headline and your initial post

[MrModerate]

18. Yeah, it's irrelevant, but . . .

Also unsurprising.

1) Bush is C-in-C: human nature, not to mention military tradition and training, would predispose soldiers to give him more respect than he deserves. In other words, "hoo-ah" is contagious.

2) As has been said before, those soldiers who support Kerry would be morons to respond to a poll saying so. Every byte they sent is or can be monitored by their commanders.

3) Career soldiers (i.e., subscribers to Army Times) are historically Republican. For years, the canard has been that Dems are soft on defense.

4) It DOES matter. These are the guys who will be facilitated in their voting (actually, I'm guessing most of them have already, or will by Nov 10 or so).

[cubsfan forever]

38. Tell your friends on the other side

thank you, but perhaps you could return to the land of make believe?

Professor 2

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. Tell Karl I Said Hi

[dogman]

20. Troops with cushy jobs and access to the polls?

Surprise there. What's your point?

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[UpsideDownFlag]

48. lol, i think you've made your point.

this is what, the third time you've called him out? the mods will get it sooner or later.

[maxrandb]

22. Does Not Matter Much, but we do need to change this

Since the military only makes up about .001 percent of the electorate, the only way this matters is if each or their votes counts for 100 points to everyone else's 1. The only reason to do a stupid poll like this is to try to convince the American people that since troops support this mis-administration, so should they.

Might as well poll truck drivers or cowboys. Who cares?

That being said, I am an active duty Naval Officer who started out as an enlisted man. Most of the higher ranks are nothing but rampant wing-nuts. In my Ready Room alone we have 2 Citadel grads and 3 VMI grads. Another thing that doesn't help is that we get Rush piped in for at least an hour a day on AFRTS. Every TV in the squadron is stuck on Faux news.

What we need to do is to convince the military that it is perfectly OK to be a Democrat. I proudly point out to my shipmates that "you don't need to be a knuckle dragging wingnut to defend your country".

Someone needs to clear house at the upper ranks. You'd be amazed how much influence these folks have. Look, if a "wingnut" writes my Fitness report, it might be a good idea for me to "go along to get along". Difference is I have enough time in to retire, I'm senior enough, and I care enough to make my views heard.

[Kammer]

23. On the Hunt

[moondust]

25. "...older, higher in rank and more career-oriented..."

Translation: Those who thrive on dictatorship.

[coreystone]

26. I wouldn't exactly say that a 13.4 % response would be a very strong...

mandate. It never broke down the per cent of those polled who were Active or Inactive. As previous posters have mentioned, I would strongly support the "fear of a non-Bush" response.

We could all go on about how "unscientific" this poll is, but, most of the readers of USA Today won't go much past the "spin" effect of the "Military Strongly Supports Bush"! After Kerry wins, we need to REALLY go after the "Fourth Estate" and SOMEHOW force more realistically objective journalism. These guys are just selling papers and abusing their position.



GO "KERRY-EDWARDS" :dem: ON TUESDAY!!

[NicRic]

27. If true ,I just dont get it !

Why would these guys ,who are putting their lives on the line for bushes war , want him in charge four more years. Has he ever been seen saluting the casket of a fallen one ? Dont they realize that he looks upon them as expendable. To add insult to injury ,he has taken them into Iraq with no real plan , they are being forced to serve longer then they signed up for etc,etc, The stories I've read from parents, wives of those serving in Iraq, all say they are very unhappy with the way things are going. I can only believe this "survey" is pure B/S , and the real #'s are the other way around !

[melody]

28. ny nephew says that's bs

He's over in Iraq right now and says that *EVERYONE* there hates Bush, but that their superiors are telling them not to be so "obvious" about it. In other words, they've been told to quiet dissent.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

30. dumb as a web poll

[w4rma]

31. Rush Limbaugh and Fox News are what they play all the time for the troops.

ALL the time. In the mess halls, in the officer's quarters. They are *forced* to listen to the brainwashing.

[Deja Q]

32. And yet *'s DURING-WAR activities (Vietnam AND now) haven't impacted them?

(shakes head in disbelief)

[Snivi Yllom]

35. they must be asking the troops

who are in the rear with the gear and in air conditioned palaces

[wellstone_democrat]

39. LOADS of retirees subscribe

you know, the sort that get all misty-eyed over the good old days (which many of them were less than enamored with then, but...)

[flygal]

40. Um, have you ever read the Army Times..

Sooooo incredibly biased. Think Armed Forces Radio (Rush et al) times 100. Not to mention the armed forces television is such propaganda. They are not allowed to televise commercials so they make their own military ones - "Iraq has schools" ad nauseum.

[progressivebydesign]

41. Um... that's an OLD story, an unscientific poll.

I'm not the type to accuse new posters of anything. BUT.. I find it odd that you posted a nearly month old story, about a non-scientific poll here today.

Keep the bullshit off DU.

[norml]

42. Why wait till after Halloween to unmask?

Why not do it now? Why post this nonsense here? It's not even a legitimate poll. This is one of the republican infomercials' talking points.

[mmonk]

44. The only military poll

that should count is one that polls only the ones serving in Iraq. The others are bull or boast. The ones begining to see the truth about our "leader" are the ones suffering under this war and the bogus pretense it is being fought.

[depakid]

45. Actually blame the poster

who saw fit to put this trash out for your consumption. This is one of the worst examples of people posting obviously bogus and invalid polls that I've seen yet. And that's saying a lot.

[Dark]

46. I can see how the respondents support Bush.

"Army Times Publishing sent e-mails to more than 31,000 subscribers and received 4,165 responses on a secure Web site. The publisher cautioned that the results are not a scientific poll. Its readers are older, higher in rank and more career-oriented than the military as a whole."

It's the upper levels who never see combat. Thus, they vote Repub because supposedly they're better for military folks, esp career ones.

[ciaobox]

47. It's bullshit

and it really doesn't matter even it it is true. We don't need troops to win.

[0007]

49. I've talked with Marines, Army soldiers and Navy personnal

and not one of them thought junior had a brain. And they all said the Iraq invasion was total BS.

An unscientific survey of U.S. military personnel is a phoney bias USA News piece and nothing more than shit!

[Jersey Devil]

50. So long, it's been good to know you

So long, it's been good to know you
So long, it's been good to know you
So long, it's been good to know you
There's a mighty big war that's got to be won
And we'll get back together again.

[Overseas]

51. Conveniently, "unscientific" is not mentioned by RNC Heads

The RNC babbleheads are trumpeting this poll everywhere and somehow failing to mention that it is "unscientific." Hope their aggressively pushing this poll prompts more soldiers and their families to vote for the more intelligent, effective warrior, John Kerry.