US Confidence In Military Hits Lowest Point In Over 20 Years

Confidence in the military has fallen to its lowest point in over 20 years in the United States, according to new data released by Gallup.

As Statista's Anna Fleck reports, in a survey conducted in June, 60 percent of respondents said that they had either a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the military. The last time it was this low was in 1997, and prior to that in 1988, when confidence levels dipped to 58 percent.

Gallup analysts highlight how confidence in the military has declined since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Republicans have historically shown greater confidence in the U.S. military than Democrats, and while they still do so, the rate has dropped from 91 percent in 2020 to 68 percent in 2023.

As of this year, confidence levels among Democrats stand at 62 percent, while Independents’ confidence are at 55 percent.

Belief in institutions has generally been on the decline in the U.S. in recent years.

According to a wider Gallup poll, last year saw a drop in public confidence in 11 out of 16 institutions, including in the presidency and the Supreme Court. According to the poll conducted June 1-22, 2023, the five institutions with the lowest ratings were newspapers (18 percent), the criminal justice system (17 percent), television news (14 percent), big business (14 percent) and Congress (8 percent).

We give the final word to Kurt Schlichter, who wrote an emotive op-ed this week on the reality that, 'of course young patriots are rejecting joining our failing military':

The generals and admirals are in a tizzy because the cannon fodder is refusing to sign on the line that is dotted.

Here is the hard reality.

If you choose to join this military, you’re putting your lives in the hands of people who, at the highest level, don’t care about you at best and hate you at worst and are grossly corrupt and grossly incompetent.

When you die, likely because of their utter failure to adequately perform their duties at even the most basic level of proficiency, your families going to get shafted and you’ll be forgotten or disrespected.

There are consequences for squandering institutional trust for short-term advantage, and one of them is that no one will want to die for you.

And if you think this makes me happy to write, you’re dumb or dishonest enough to be a modern general or admiral.