DECEMBER 7, 2021 – The confidence that Americans have in their military has dropped, according to a recent survey released by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has seen the survey and is concerned about what its results mean to the military, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said today.
The secretary saw the survey when he was at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday. The survey said that 45 percent of the respondents have “a great deal of confidence” in the U.S. military with 33 percent saying they have “some confidence.”
These are good numbers, but they represent a 25 percent drop from when the survey was first conducted in 2018.
Kirby would not hypothesize the reasons for the drop, but said it is concerning.
“We are an all-volunteer force, and the men and women who serve in this department come from homes and families all over the country,” he said.
“And so the American public’s perceptions of the United States military matters to us, not just from a recruiting perspective, although that’s valid, but also from a representational perspective.”
The trust and confidence is critically important to the institution, he said.
Kirby said the military is of the American people and, as such, is not immune from the polarization occurring in the country writ large.
The press secretary said Austin “wants to spend a little bit more time and try to see if there’s some wisdom he can glean from the survey. He obviously took it seriously when he had a chance to at least look at it briefly.”
Kirby said if the American people could see what the secretary sees when he visits the troops “that he’s confident the American people would be just as proud as he is, and just as confident in their capabilities.”
FROM THE SURVEY
- Sharp Decline in Trust and Confidence in the U.S. Military
For the first time in our survey, a minority of Americans—only 45%—report having a great deal of trust and confidence in the military. Alarmingly, this is down 25 points in the last three years. Increasing numbers of Americans say they have little or not much confidence in the military, which is up 15 points in the last three years. Those reporting some confidence have grown by 10 points.
Trust and confidence in the military is down across the major demographic subgroups, including age, gender, and party identification. Since 2018, those reporting the highest level of confidence in the military have fallen among Republicans by 34 points to 53%, Democrats by 17 points to 42%, and Independents by 28 points to 38%. The highest level of confidence is down 25 points among both men and women. And it is declining among all age groups as well, down 25 points among those over 65, by 26 points among those ages 45- 64, and 28 points among those 30-44.
Read the full Survey here.
BY JIM GARAMONE, DOD NEWS