Thread by @commondefense

BREAKING: Common Defense surveyed our 125,000 members to see how politically engaged progressive military veterans are feeling about the 2020 primary.

Here’s what we found:

1) @BernieSanders 29.1% (up 5.1% from Jan)

2) @ewarren 20.7% (up 10.7% !!)

3) @JoeBiden 18.2% (up 0.2%)

4) @PeteButtigieg 8.5% (new to our survey)

5) @KamalaHarris 6.2% (down 1.8% from January)

6) @JayInslee 1.6% (new to our survey)

7) @TulsiGabbard 1.6% (up 0.6%)

8) @BetoORourke 1.4% (down 12.1% !!!!!)

9) @CoryBooker 1.1% (down 0.9%)

All other candidates got <1%

In our survey, we asked Common Defense veterans and military families to tell us why they support their top choice of candidate.

The responses were remarkably consistent!

Here are a few representative examples:

Joe S., a veteran in IA, says they support @BernieSanders because “He has honesty and integrity and a 40 year record of being a progressive.”

Carl E., a veteran in NH, says they support @BernieSanders because he has the “longest record of working for the benefit of real people.”

June E., a military family member in NV, says they support @BernieSanders because “he is the most pro-worker, progressive, non-corporate candidate.”

Ashlyn P., a military family member in SC, says they support @BernieSanders because “he is the only one who can beat Trump.”

Roxwell H., a veteran in NV, says they support @ewarren because she is “Absolutely the most competent with solid policy proposals.”

Carl Z., another veteran in NV, says they support @ewarren because her policies show “she is for the working class.”

Diane P., a military family member in NV, says they support @ewarren because “she will address the growing gap between the wealthy and middle income and poor.”

Marie H., a Gold Star family member in MI, supports @ewarren for her “impressive progressive policies.”

Almost all the supporters of @JoeBiden talked about electability.

Richard M., a veteran in NH, says they think @JoeBiden “will attract blue collar votes, and will beat Trump.”

Arthur M., a veteran in SC, says they think @JoeBiden is the “best bet to beat Trump.”

We also heard from a fair number of veterans who have concerns about @JoeBiden.

Marcus, a veteran in Iowa, told us they are supporting @PeteButtigieg “because he is a veteran, gay, and NOT Joe Biden!”

The big movement in our survey has been an increasing sense that @BernieSanders and @ewarren are the clear favorites among progressive veterans and military families.

Together their support adds up to almost half of our members, even with such a large field of candidates.

It’s important to note that @BernieSanders and @ewarren both enthusiastically signed our #EndForeverWar pledge. That gives us confidence that they’ll both be responsive to the grassroots veteran community as President.

We’ve reached out to almost all of the major candidates inviting them to sign our pledge to #EndForeverWar and had conversations with many of those campaigns.
There’s still time to sign on, and our members are watching attentively.

One final note: this survey had thousands of respondents, but it isn’t a randomized scientific poll. The survey was emailed out to all of our 125,000 members, and responses sorted.

It does give a clear signal about the views of the most politically engaged progressive veterans.

We believe Veterans and military families have a CRITICAL role to play in defeating Trump in 2020. States and counties that flipped from Obama to Trump have a large population of veterans - much higher than the national average.

We look forward to uniting & organizing to win!