According to a brand new Rasmussen poll out this morning, military veterans prefer Mitt Romney by a wide margin, 59% to 35%. Another 5% prefer a third party candidate; 2% are undecided. This poll has been echoed by Gallup, which put the two at 58-34 back in May. John McCain won some 54% of the veteran vote against Obama.
Romney’s larger lead is a sign that veterans are dissatisfied with Obama, rather than pleased particularly with Romney – Romney, after all, was not a military man while McCain famously was. The poll did not ask military vets about their feelings on the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Despite Obama’s attempts to pander to veterans by offering them larger benefits and suggesting that we build a country “worthy” of our returning vets, America’s military men and women continue to prefer hawkish foreign policy and fiscal responsibility to appeasement-oriented foreign policy and heavy spending.