Military Times survey: U.S Troops prefer Trump to Clinton by a huge margin

YEREVAN, MAY 10, ARMENPRESS. In a new survey of American military personnel,Donald Trump emerged as active-duty service members' preference to become the next U.S. president, topping HillaryClinton by more than a 2-to-1 margin. However, in the latest Military Times election survey, more than one in five troops said they’d rather not vote in November if they have to choose between just those two candidates, reports Military Times.

But given only those choices, 21 percent of the service members surveyed said they wouldabstain from voting. More than 54 percent of the 951 troops Military Times surveyed said they would vote for Trump, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, over Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. Only about 25 percent said they would vote for Clinton in that matchup.

The results, while not a scientific sampling of military voting patterns show strong support for Trump among troops despite critics' attacks that he lacks foreign policy ornational security experience.

Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders fared slightly better than Clinton in a similar head-to-head matchup with Trump, but still trailed the reality TV star and business mogul by a 51 percent to 38 percent margin. About one in 10 military members said they would not vote at all given those two candidates.

Military personnel also demonstratedstrong support for Trump in a Military Times reader survey conducted in March. Trump was the most popular candidate among the six presidential candidates remaining then, and the clear choice among Republican service members.

Trump stands as the presumptiveRepublican nominee for president, following the exit of his two remaining top party rivals in the last week. But numerous high-profile party leaders — including House Speaker Paul Ryan and the last three GOP presidential nominees — have declined to endorse him, citing concerns about his temperament and policy plans.

Meanwhile, Sanders has vowed to fight the Democratic primary contest all the way to the party convention in late July. Clinton, who by the end of the primary seasonappears likely to reach the number of delegates required to get her party's nomination, has begun shifting her campaign focus to Trump, attacking his thin national security résumé and lack of support among Republican Party leaders.

In the latest survey, nearly half of respondents identified as Republicans, and only 18 percent as Democrats. That partisan divide accounted for much of Trump’s support.

Democrats overwhelmingly favored Clinton (72 percent to 8 percent) and Republicans overwhelmingly supported Trump (82 percent to 6 percent). Troops who identified as independents slightly favored Trump, by a 40 percentto 32 percent margin.

Female troops favored Clinton over Trump, by a 51 percent to24 percent margin. Male troops backed Trump over Clinton 57 percent to 22 percent.

Officers were more likely to back Clinton, though still said they’d vote for Trump by a 46 percent to 32 percent tally. Enlisted respondents broke 58 percent to 21 percent for Trump.

The same held for Sanders, where he outpaced Trump’s support by a 45 percent to43 percentmargin among Navy members.Among the services, Marines were the most likely to support Trump (60 percent said they’d vote for him) while sailors were the most likely to support Clinton (31 percent said they would vote for her).

The survey beganthe day of the Indiana primary, before Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the presidential contest, and remained open until later that week. Military members surveyed backed Cruz over Clinton and Sanders, as well, though not by as large of a margin as Trump.