The military are going off Trump

According to a new poll among active-duty troops carried out by Military Times in association with Syracuse University Trump's popularity among servicemen and women is dropping significantly. This could be a big deal for Trump as he has always boasted, accurately, that the military love him because he has spent so much new money on defence and has boosted the pay of everyone in military uniform. But now for the first time the numbers are not looking so good for the president. Just under 50 per cent of troops questioned said they had a poor view of Trump, compared with 38 per cent who approved of him. Not that long ago surveys showed a general satisfaction with Trump, a majority at least. Now more troops than before have said they would be voting for Joe Biden instead. The poll was taken before the Democratic and Republican conventions, so that might have made a difference. But the military reflect the more conservative political views of the nation, so any downward support among the military could be a significant signal. Trump doesn't believe in polls, so it probably won't ruin his day. But the military poll and all the other surveys which show Biden still well ahead on points are definitely sending a warning to the Republicans. They must be feeling a little uneasy. Could Trump actually fail to win reelection? Two months to go and Biden still in the lead! But increasingly I feel Biden is ahead not because he is such a star and visionary but because he isn't Trump. The two men are direct opposites in every possible way. Can you win an election because you aren't anything like your opponent? Somehow that doesn't seem enough. Biden is going to have to do a helluva lot more than complain about Trump if he is going to win this election on November 3.