A poll of the military shows staggering support for Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson. Johnson came in a hair below Donald Trump with 37 percent of the vote to Trump's 38 percent, and Hillary Clinton was third with a measly 16 percent. Green Party's Jill Stein received only 1.2 percent, which is nearly identical to her national poll percentages. The poll was conducted by Military Times and Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families.
Conducted in September, it is the first scientific breakdown of voting preferences among service members, and includes more than 2,200 responses from active-duty troops. And it shows a very different race than the one playing out on the broader national stage.
Among the entire military force, Trump leads Johnson 37.6 percent to 36.5 percent, within the study’s 2 percent margin of error. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton trails as a distant third-place choice, with only 16.3 percent of troops' support.
Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 1.2 percent support while other third-party and write-in options received 3.2 percent.
About 5 percent of respondents indicated they do not plan to vote given the likely choices on the ballot this year.
When the poll was broken down into individual branches, Johnson won the Navy, Army, and Air Force. Among Marines, Trump polled just over 50 percent to Johnson's 27 percent. Clinton and Johnson fared best among the Navy, with 21 percent and 42 percent, respectively. Nearly seven percent of Marines said that they do not plan on voting this election.
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Curiously, among officers, Johnson comes out ahead of Trump by nearly 13 points, leading 38.6 percent to 26 percent. Enlisted troops favored Trump by about four points.
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