CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Obama’s popularity falls to record low among US troops. Why?
Obama’s sinking popularity among the troops can be traced to a number of factors: budget cuts, falling troop morale, frustrations over the Obama administration’s foreign policy, gay and gender equity initiatives within the military, and US political leaders in general.
According to the Military Times’ poll, troops are more unhappy under Obama than they were under previous commanders-in-chief. Some 91 percent of active duty service members were satisfied with their quality of life in 2009. This year, that figure dropped to 56 percent. . . .
Events in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the rise of the Islamic State, have also led some in the military to challenge Obama’s foreign policy.
His decision to remove all troops from Iraq in 2011 helped lead to the rise of the militant group ISIS, according to some military experts, who see Obama as a weak leader in foreign policy. The rise of ISIS forced Obama to return US troops to the region, another unpopular decision among troops. When asked whether the US should send a large force of combat troops back to Iraq to fight Islamic State militants, 70 percent of survey respondents said, ‘No.’
Similarly, the report found troops were unhappy with the outcome of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for which they blame their commander-in-chief.
Well, all things considered he’s been an even worse commander-in-chief than he has been a President.