Abstract: This paper examines the political attitudes of West Point cadets by analyzing the results of an online survey administered in the days just before the November 2004 presidential election. The impetus behind this research project is to begin to test the conventional wisdom that the military is largely Republican and conservative and to examine whether this is a generational phenomenon, or if institutional norms have developed at West Point that may perpetuate and reinforce the Army's affiliation with one political party.

While overall it seems, not inconsistent with the conventional wisdom, that these young members of the Active Duty Army are overwhelmingly Republican and conservative, we also find possible evidence of institutional pressures for cadets to identify with the Republican Party. When asked directly if they feel pressure to identify with a single party, almost half of the respondents reported that they do feel pressure to identify with the Republican Party. Among those respondents who identify as Democrats, the percent who feel pressure to identify as Republican jumps to 79%. We concede that these pressures are likely not due to a conscious effort by the Academy or the officers who teach there. Nevertheless, given the historical importance of political neutrality to the Army ethic, it may be in the Academy's interest to ensure that Republican Party affiliation does not become synonymous with Army service and that cadets should feel free to express political views independent of any perceived institutional norm. In addition, we find that cadets who do not identify with the majority party feel less inspired toward a military career and have less confidence in their future prospects in the Army, indicating that the Army, by allowing the perception of an institutional norm to exist, may be isolating those who do not self-identify as Republicans and discouraging them from continued service in the Army.

http://www.allacademic.co.../5/3/1/p85315_index.html

Some more can be found here
http://iserp.columbia.edu.../citizenship-and-service

The Political and Social Attitudes of Army Personnel

Our second focus with our survey data was to assess the political and social attitudes of American soldiers and future officers and compare them with those of the American public. In terms of ideology, we found that the army largely mirrors the public in terms of self-placement on a liberal/conservative scale. However, a full 63% of army officers self-identify as conservative. Furthermore, we find that as rank increases, officers are more likely to align themselves ideologically with the Republican Party. This partisan alignment correlates with attitudes on social and political issues to the same degree that partisan identification correlates with attitudes in the civilian population.

These findings refute the conventional wisdom that the army is uniformly conservative and Republican. However, the fact that Republican identification in the army appears to be linearly correlated with increased rank introduces a new set of questions. Are we seeing a cohort or generational effect that will fade as the current generation of senior officers retires? Or, have institutional norms developed whereby identification with the Republican Party is implicitly encouraged?

The West Point study offers clues as to what may be causing this overwhelming Republican identification among army officers, but raises more questions in the process. In our study, we found that 61% of the cadets surveyed identified with the Republican Party and another 14% said they did not affiliate with a party but leaned Republican. Furthermore, Republican Party identification is implicitly perceived as a norm at West Point. However, we cannot conclusively determine whether this is the result of self-selection to the Academy or if cadets adopt their partisan affiliations at West Point. The bulk of evidence points towards self-selection in that the majority of cadets report that their parents identify with the Republican Party. The larger implication of this finding is that the decision to enlist in today's army, at least among college-bound youth, may be heavily influenced by partisan identification.

Our last major finding from preliminary analysis of this data concerns the propensity to vote. Whereas in the early years of the Cold War, army personnel took pride in being apolitical and voted at rates much lower than the general population, this trend has gradually reversed to the point where members of the army almost match the civilian population in their propensity to vote.

I think there maybe a number of different things going on. some more demonic than others.

1. I think people of a more republican stripe are more likely to be attracted to a carreer in the military--and this is especially true of college graduates. Where a kid from highschool might sign up for service despite his or her political beliefs just to make a living, a college student with more options is only going to go the ROTC route if it is a good philosophical fit, which means having a strong commitment to the American military presence abroad, which is a more Republican position, i think. The college ROTC graduate i would think would have a greater chance of eventually becoming an officer than the highschool kid who got recruited from a high unemployment town, partially explaining the higher numbers of Republicans amongst the officers.

2. Men still hugely outnumber women in the military, and women still affiliate with the Democrats in larger numbers, because of their stances on things like abortion, equal pay for equal value, education, and daycare.

Having said that, i wouldn't be surprised if Republicanism and Conservative values were not directly encouraged in the military. The Republican party is certainly not above it. The military has a hierarchical tradition by definition--following orders and being a "team" player are part of the deal, making the perpetuation of these kinds of values easy to do.

Maybe the end of "don't ask don't tell" will help even things out.

I think liberal invitees turn down the opportunity to apply. Mine did.

My son was a football player, had a Jr Olympic gold for powerlifting, trumpet player and National Honor Society member. He received an invitation to apply to West Point. His response was, "I am not interested in killing people."

Good for him.

You done good, mom.