Why falling confidence in America’s military is creating ‘a real crisis’
BY ELLEN MITCHELL - 08/04/23 5:30 AM ET
The public’s confidence in the U.S. military is the lowest it’s been in decades, and it’s doing no favors to the armed forces’ current recruitment struggles.
Thanks to a combination of culture war issues, fresh reports of sexual assaults and suicides within the ranks, and a disastrous end to the Afghanistan War two years ago, Americans’ perception of the armed forces has taken a hit, according to experts and recent polls.
“It’s a confluence of lots of things and it’s becoming a real crisis,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a security fellow at the Brookings Institution.
The latest numbers from Gallup, taken from a poll conducted June 1-22, found that Americans’ confidence in the military was at its lowest point in 25 years: 60 percent. The last time it was this low was in 1997. Republican sentiment has seen a particularly steep decline, dropping from 91 percent to 68 percent in the past three years.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4136573-why-falling-confidence-in-americas-military-is-creating-a-real-crisis/
