A recent Pew Research Poll gives former President Donald Trump the lead with veterans nationwide over Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of Tuesday's presidential election.
The poll, conducted with 876 veteran registered voters, gave Trump or "Leans Trump" 61% of the key demographic's support. Just 37% of the veterans polled responded that they support Vice President Kamala Harris.
Veterans make up around 6% of the country, according to the Census Bureau, or about 16 million people per 2022 numbers. The number of veterans nationwide is steadily dwindling, with around 18% of the American population being veterans in 1980.
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Veterans 4 America First Institute, a nonprofit, reacted to the recent poll showing overwhelming support for Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election in an interview with Fox News Digital.
"The reason veterans are sticking with Trump, despite all the fake news, all the lies about Trump, is because veterans care about two things: results, and their pension," said Darin Selnick, Air Force veteran and founder of Veterans 4 America First Institute to Fox News Digital.
"And so with the VA, you know, veterans all over the country saying, ‘We want Trump back’ because the VA has gone downhill. We're not getting our choice of staff or not being accountable," said Selnick.
The Mission Act and the Accountability Acts passed under former President Trump allowed for veterans to seek private providers outside the VA as well as hold poorly performing VA staff accountable.
The Veterans 4 America First Institute's mission statement is "to preserve and expand our nation’s commitment to our veterans, military, and their families through public education and advocacy."
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According to Pew, 60% of veterans cast their ballots in 2020 for Former President Trump, and 39% voted for Joe Biden. This most recent poll more accurately reflects 2016 veteran numbers when 61% voted for Trump and only 35% voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
According to Selnick, a former Captain in the Air Force, veterans have not relied on news or polls to come to their decision about supporting Trump.
"They saw the difference, and [veterans are] going to stick with Trump. They also saw in terms of the bigger picture of the country. They saw what happened in Afghanistan. They saw what Trump did, how he got rid of ISIS. They saw what he did on foreign policy, saw what he was doing, how it worked… They've seen with their own eyes," said Selnick.
In the ill-fated Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 under President Biden, 13 American service members died from a bombing at Abbey Gate on Aug. 26. During the dignified transfer of many of these service members, mostly Marines, President Biden was seen checking his watch.
Many of the Gold Star families affected by this tragic bombing support former President Donald Trump in his re-election bid, including Darin Hoover and Kelly Barnett, who invited him to lay a wreath at their son Sgt Taylor Hoover's grave site at Arlington National Cemetery a few months ago.
Selnick encourages more veterans to show up to the polls next week and participate in the 2024 presidential election, saying, "Although veterans are not a large percentage of the population, they have family members; people who support veterans are a big percentage of the population. When you take those into account, you know their vote is going to be influenced by what their veteran family members and friends and those who just support veterans, the military in general think as well."
However, Selnick also encourages Americans not to lose interest in veterans' opinions after the election with Veterans Day just around the corner.
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"With Veterans Day coming up, we recognize the debt we owe veterans every year on Nov. 11. And so it's important to understand what those who defend us think and what they believe and what their opinions are, but also their family members, their friends and those who support veterans as well," said Selnick.
