Military veterans have long tended to affiliate with the Republican Party and support Republican candidates, and that remains the case today.
About six-in-ten registered voters who say they have served in the U.S. military or military reserves (61%) support former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, while 37% back Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in early September.
Veterans’ vote preferences are on par with past elections. In 2020, 60% of veteran validated voters cast their ballot for Trump, while 39% backed President Joe Biden. And in 2016, veterans voted for Trump over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by a similar margin (61% to 35%).
The vice presidential candidates on both tickets – Republican Sen. JD Vance and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz – have served in the armed forces. Vance was in the U.S. Marines and Walz was in the National Guard.
According to the Census Bureau, about 6% of American adults have served in the military, a substantially smaller share than a few decades ago. In 1980, about 18% of U.S. adults were veterans.
Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand veterans’ views about the presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2024 election.
Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Surveys were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other factors. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.
The questions used for this analysis are drawn from previously released publications. Refer to the toplines from the following publications for question wording:
- “In Tied Presidential Race, Harris and Trump Have Contrasting Strengths, Weaknesses”
- “Americans view Walz more positively than Vance, but many aren’t familiar with either VP nominee”
- “How Voters Expect Harris’ and Trump’s Policies to Affect Different Groups in Society”
The survey conducted Aug. 26-Sept. 2, 2024, included 876 veteran registered voters. The margin of error for the vote preferences of this group is plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. For additional details about the survey, refer to the methodology.
Related: The changing face of America’s veteran population
How veteran voters identify politically
Veteran voters have long been more likely to align themselves with the Republican Party than the Democratic Party. According to our recent analysis of partisan identification:
- 63% of veteran voters identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, while 35% are Democrats or Democratic leaners.
- As with voters overall, there are demographic differences in veterans’ partisan identification. For example, about seven-in-ten White veterans (72%) identify with or lean toward the GOP. That compares with just 11% of Black veterans, who overwhelmingly identify as or lean Democratic (82%).
How veterans see the candidates’ policies and their impact on veterans
More than half of veteran voters (55%) say that if Trump wins the election, his policies would make things better for veterans. Only 23% say the same when it comes to Harris and her policies.
Veteran supporters of both candidates are more likely to say their own candidate’s policies – as opposed to the other candidate’s policies – would make things better for veterans. But Trump supporters are far more likely than Harris supporters to say this of their candidate (83% vs. 62%).
A third of veterans who support Harris say that her policies would not change things much either way for them. Only 11% of Trump supporters say the same about their candidate.
Large majorities of each nominee’s supporters say that the other candidate would make things worse for veterans:
- 82% of veteran Trump supporters say Harris would make things worse.
- 69% of veteran Harris supporters say Trump would make things worse.
How veterans view the vice presidential candidates
Vance and Walz, who will meet in a debate on Oct. 1, are both military veterans.
About half of veteran voters (53%) say they have a favorable view of Vance, while about a third (34%) say the same of Walz.
Compared with voters overall, veterans are much more likely to hold positive views about Vance and negative views about Walz.
Overwhelming majorities of both presidential candidates’ veteran supporters view their party’s candidate for vice president favorably.
- 87% of veterans who support Harris have a favorable view of Walz.
- 79% of veterans who support Trump have a favorable view of Vance.
Related: Americans view Walz more positively than Vance, but many aren’t familiar with either VP nominee
