- In a poll conducted before the recent round of tensions with Iran, US military service members were more concerned about Russia and China than Tehran.
- About 45% of troops surveyed in the November poll said they disapproved of US policy toward Iran, compared to about 28% who said they back President Donald Trump's strategy there.
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Before the recent showdown with Iran, nearly half of troops surveyed in the annual Military Times poll viewed the Islamic republic as a significant threat to US national security. But more worried about China and Russia as potential adversaries.
The poll, conducted last November, surveyed 1,630 active-duty Military Times subscribers in partnership with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at Syracuse University. Nearly one in five of that group saw Iran as a "very significant threat" to America, compared to about 17% who saw the country as little or no threat.
In the time since the survey was conducted, tensions between the two countries have increased dramatically following a US airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of an elite arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on Iraqi soil.
Iraqi government officials are moving to oust all US armed forces from their country in response to the attack. Still, thousands of US troops have been deployed to the region in recent days, to help secure a series of embassies and American military sites.
Among the troops surveyed in November, about 45% said they disapproved of current US policies toward Iran, compared to about 28% who said they back President Donald Trump's foreign policy strategy there.
Iran was viewed as much more of a threat than Iraq (only 8% called that country a significant threat), Afghanistan (about 9%), Syria (about 20%) and North Korea (about 35%).
But Iran was seen as less of a problem among troops than Russia and China. Two-thirds of troops surveyed said Russia represented a serious threat to US national security, and more than 75% said the same about China.
In both cases, nearly as many respondents labeled China and Russia as a "very significant threat" to America as those who labeled Iran as any type of serious danger.
In almost every country question in the survey, more troops were unhappy with current US foreign policy than supportive of it. The lone exception was North Korea, where slightly more troops (34% to 33%) approved of Trump's policies towards the Asian power.
When asked in November if the US was likely to end up in another major military conflict within the next year, more than half of troops surveyed (about 51%) said that would happen.
But that figure was down significantly from the Military Times poll conducted a year earlier in 2018, when nearly 65% of troops surveyed said they expected a major military action within the next 12 months.
Our methodology
Between October 23 and December 2, Military Times in collaboration with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University conducted a voluntary, confidential online survey of US service members. Poll participants are readers of Military Times publications whose military status is verified through official Defense Department email addresses.
The survey included 28 questions on service members' opinions related to the current political climate, policy and national security in the United States.
The survey received 1,630 responses from active-duty troops. The IVMF used standard methodology to weight the results according to the rank, gender and service branch of the actual US military. The margin of error for most questions was roughly 2%.
Like most studies where participation is voluntary, the poll's sample is subject to self-selection bias. Researchers sought to account for that and adhered to generally accepted scientific practices analyzing the data.
The survey audience was 92% male and 8% female. The respondents identified themselves as 75% white, 14% Hispanic, 13% African American, 5% Asian and 5% other ethnicities. Respondents were able to select more than one race.
The Military Times and the researchers at IVMF have used identical methodologies for this survey since 2016.
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