WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are underwater in their approval ratings with veterans and military members, according to a poll conducted by Common Defense, a grassroots veterans organization.
In a survey of 731 active-duty service members, veterans and military families, roughly 50 percent of respondents said they disapprove of Trump as commander-in-chief, while 47 percent said they approved of him. Hegseth had a similar rating: roughly 45 percent said they approved of him, while 50 percent said they disapproved.
The poll's sharpest finding concerned politicization of the military. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they believe military decisions under Trump are being made for political gain rather than mission readiness. Fifty-three percent of active-duty service members said they want to separate from the military sooner because the service is becoming more politicized, while 45 percent said policy changes or uncertainty under Trump made them want to exit sooner.
Jose Vasquez, a U.S. Army veteran and executive director of Common Defense, said the results pointed to a readiness problem. Experts cited in coverage of the poll warned that the discontent amounted to a retention risk for the armed forces, with about half of service members considering leaving sooner than planned.
Common Defense reached respondents online and said its sample "skews older, whiter, more male, and more Republican." The poll was taken in September and released in October, and it carries a four-point margin of error.
The findings landed days before the midterm elections, in which voters handed Democrats control of Congress, and as Hegseth faced growing scrutiny over the Pentagon's handling of the war with Iran. Trump has defended Hegseth, saying the secretary is doing "a very good job," even as some Republicans have blamed the war's mounting costs for the party's losses.
