Monday, June 9, 2014

Poll: Veteran Households Slam #Bergdahl Swap as 'Wrong Thing to Do...'

From the new USA Today/Pew Center poll, "USA TODAY poll: Obama mishandled Bergdahl exchange."

Also, "Public Has Doubts about Bergdahl Prisoner Exchange":

High Cost Bergdahl photo BpJsZoWCcAABDHx_zps2bead30e.jpg
Veteran Households’ Views of Bergdahl Deal.

Households that include a military veteran take a more negative view of Bergdahl and the prisoner exchange than do households without a veteran.

Overall, 33% of the public says someone in their household has served in the U.S. military or the military reserves at some point. Among this group, 55% say the exchange of five Taliban prisoners was the wrong thing to do, compared with just 26% who say it was the right thing to do. Non-veteran households are evenly divided (37% right thing, 38% wrong thing).

Furthermore, veteran households are somewhat more likely to say they are angry with Bergdahl (23%) than sympathetic toward him (12%), though most (57%) say they hold neither feeling toward him.

And when it comes to U.S. responsibility toward Bergdahl, 37% of veteran households say the country was not obligated to do all it could to secure his release because he walked away from his post; 47% say the U.S. has a responsibility to do all it can to return an American captive soldier, no matter what the circumstances. Non-veteran households are more likely to back U.S. efforts to free captive soldiers, regardless of the circumstances (60%-26%).
The American public agrees that we should make every effort to bring the troops home. But the poll finds Americans especially critical of White House communications with the Congress.

It's especially telling how the military families view this, however. Remember the president's "icy" reception at West Point? The chill has yet to thaw.

More at Memeorandum.

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