Just a couple of caveats: the MSM likes to use “veteran” interchangably with “active duty military” and “military retireee.” But as all FReepers know, a veteran is someone who served in the armed forces at one time or another, a group that includes everyone from your father or grandfather who volunteered during World War II, to the young man or woman who was discharged from active duty last week. Individuals on active duty are (obviously) still serving, and retirees are those who spent enough time in service to earn a pension and other retirement benefits.
Speaking from experience, I can assure you there is minimum support for Obama among individuals in that latter category. I’m a retired military officer and I live in an area (Tidewater Virginia) with one of the largest armed forces communities in the nation. There are even fewer Obama stickers on cars than I saw four years ago, and many of those with Obama decals on their bumpers (and DoD registration decals on their windshields) belong to African-Americans.
But in fairness, I have also met a number of black military retirees who have no use for the Annointed One, and plan to vote for Romney in November. Many in that group are retired officers or senior NCOs who understand that Barry and his policies spell disaster for our armed forces, and our national security.
And that begs another question: I can’t find the internals for that Reuters poll anywhere (what a surprise). It would be very interesting to see how they assembled their “veterans” sample. Obama certainly has more support among younger troops and among those from minority groups. But the veteran/military voting bloc is still over-whelmingly conservative and Republican. Come November, there will likely be a 60-40 or 70-30 split among veterans, favoring the GOP.
Finally, if veterans are breaking for Obama, that should put states like South Carolina in play (after all, 25% of GOP primary voters in the state identify themselves as vets). But by all accounts, the Obama team has written off the state. Just one more indication that the Reuters poll (and the article) just don’t add up.
I know my military retiree brother in the latter category has absolutely no intention of voting for President Obama.