There has been a little stir among blogs and other places about Obama seemingly being preferred amongst US Military personnel. In many blogs here, here and here, they reference opensecrets.org by suggesting the information shows that the US Military is pro-Obama vs. pro-McCain.
Democrats are salivating over this because, historically, the US Military has leaned towards the Republicans. But the people commenting on this are spinning something that isn’t all that significant.
The United States Military has over 1.4 million active duty personnel and an additional 1.4 million in the reserves. Out of the nearly 3 million personnel, this is the facts they are using. Obama has received $60,642 from 134 individuals. McCain has received $10,665 from 26 individuals. A total of 160 contributors.
Ron Paul has received $45,512 from 99 individuals, Mike Huckabee – $7,950 from 10, Fred Thompson – $6,350 from 7, Mitt Romney – $5,550 from 10, and Hillary – $3,240 from 6. Worse yet, they are using only contributions from individuals who made their contributions while being deployed overseas.
But in reality, of the 1,417 individuals who donated to both Obama and McCain from all military personnel whether abroad or not, 60% gave to Obama and it was less than 20% more money than those who gave to McCain. Hardly 6 to 1. Those who gave to Obama and McCain make up .0005% of all military personnel. Hardly a referendum. The percentage sample they are using to tout this “6 to 1” idea makes up even less, it’s 5/100,000.
Magnolia Tribune
