海角大神

Active military personnel would rather see third-party Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson take over the Oval Office next year than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, a new poll shows.

Traditionally, military voters have a conservative slant and are more likely to support Republican candidates for the presidency. But in an increasingly unconventional and divisive election with historically unlikeable major party candidates, some have chosen to shift from their partisan ties and jump to the other side of the aisle or put their vote toward a third party candidate.

But when that third party candidate has revealed a lack of knowledge of foreign policy, a surge in support for him becomes more difficult to expound.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a little hard to explain, actually,鈥� Matthew Dallek, a professor at George Washington University鈥檚 Graduate School of Political Management, tells 海角大神.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no kind of rational basis. I think it鈥檚 less about a vote for Johnson than it is about a vote against the two major party nominees.鈥�

The Military Times/Institute for Veterans and Military Families poll, which was conducted between Oct. 12 and 14, surveyed nearly 2,500 active service members about . Just over 40 percent said they would vote for Donald Trump, while 27 percent picked Mr. Johnson and another 20 percent selected Mrs. Clinton. Less than 5 percent said they didn鈥檛 plan on voting while the rest said they planned to vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein or a write-in third party candidate.

Johnson, who polls as high as , sees significantly higher favorability among the military. Those numbers are somewhat surprising, as the candidate鈥檚 qualifications to serve as US commander in chief were questioned when he was asked what he'd do, if elected, about Aleppo, a city in Syria central to the local conflict. He responded, 聽In another interview, he聽failed to recall the name of a single foreign leader he respected. He has also promised cuts military spending that would include the 聽if elected.

All three candidates have their own baggage that would likely serve as a turn-off to military personnel. Front-runner (in this poll), Mr. Trump has said he prefers soldiers 鈥渨ho weren鈥檛 captured鈥� while taking shots at Sen. John McCain, (R) of Arizona, and implied that soldiers who suffer from PTSD aren鈥檛 as strong as others. Clinton, who boasts the most foreign policy experience and expertise of any candidate, remains tainted by the 2012 Benghazi attacks and the use of a private email server while secretary of State, although she hasn鈥檛 been found guilty of intentional wrong doing regarding her role.

With the playing ground nearly leveled by scandal and a lack of experience among Trump and Johnson, the 20-point difference between Trump and Clinton is surprising, and partisan loyalty alone might not be enough to explain it, Dr. Dallek says.

鈥淸Trump鈥檚] record is a long and ugly rhetoric about the military, whereas Hillary Clinton is someone who has a history of being both deeply knowledgable and deeply hawkish as a Democrat,鈥� he says. 鈥淢aybe there鈥檚 also some reluctance to vote for a woman or express support for a woman. That鈥檚 maybe true in society in general, but maybe it鈥檚 more pronounced in a military culture that鈥檚 still male-dominated.鈥�

While Trump leads among military personnel overall, the polls show support among women for Clinton jumped 13 percent from September to October following the leak of a tape in which Trump described his sexual conduct with women in lewd terms. Still, only 36 percent of women in the military favor Clinton, compared to more than half of women nationwide.

The poll found that officers are also less likely to vote for Trump than enlisted personnel, with only 26 percent pledging support to the Republican candidate. Among this group, Johnson and Clinton are neck-and-neck, both carrying around 31 percent of the voting bloc.

While the support for Johnson seems staggering, military voters aren鈥檛 the only ones moving toward the Libertarian. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted in mid-September found that 29 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 34 .

With each candidate showing a lack of aptitude or character in some realm the military might find valuable, the majority of respondents seemed to make their selections without enthusiasm. Only nine percent felt abundantly confident that Trump could lead the military as commander in chief, while four percent said the same of Clinton.

"There's no question that Hillary Clinton has ," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont said of Clinton during the Democratic primaries. "But it is not just experience that matters, it is judgment."

Those errors in judgment have haunted Clinton during her campaign. As the Democratic candidate and her surrogates have touted her foreign policy experience as secretary of State, Clinton finds herself trying to reconcile her resume with judgment errors surrounding her use of a private email server, a move military personnel may view as one that plays fast and loose with national security, and those who don't want to experience another term with a president who's a Democrat.聽

鈥淥ften people vote based on how they see that person, and that鈥檚 why fitness and temperament have become such pre-eminent issues in the campaign,鈥� Dallek says. 鈥淚t also may reflect that there鈥檚 a real disquiet among military voters with the current administration and the current Democratic leadership.鈥�