Former President Donald Trump is leading Vice President Kamala Harris by 10 percentage points in a recent presidential election poll conducted amongst veterans. The survey, published by Semafor, revealed that despite the efforts of Democrats to tarnish Trump’s image with regard to his support for veterans, these attempts appear to be unsuccessful.
The Democrats recently accused Trump of using Arlington Cemetery as a campaign ad backdrop after Gold Star families invited him to participate in a solemn Labor Day ceremony honoring their loved ones who died during the Biden-Harris administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal. Trump laid a wreath in honor of the 13 service members killed and met with their families at Section 60 (the section reserved for members of the Global Wars on Terror. He also met with wounded service members from that operation.
The Democrats accused Trump of politicizing the cemetery and claimed that his videography team violated media rules, while ignoring videos of former President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden being filmed in the same location.
Moreover, Democrats pushed a report accusing Trump of calling World War II veterans buried in Normandy, France “suckers and losers” — despite no sources for the report going on record.
Trump’s visit to Arlington Cemetery took place on August 26, during which he interacted with grieving families. However, there has been some controversy surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris’ vice-presidential pick of Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), who falsely claimed that he was a retired command sergeant major — one rank above the actual rank he retired at — and that he had been “in war” when he had never deployed to a combat zone. Additionally, Governor Walz had submitted his retirement papers before his unit was deployed to Iraq.
The Change Research poll for Veterans for Responsible Leadership, conducted among 1,703 likely voters between August 23-29, showed that Trump is leading Harris among active-duty veterans with 49% to her 44. While the survey focused on Trump’s performance, it is clear that there are ongoing controversies involving both presidential candidates and their interactions with the veteran community.