American public opinion toward the military: Differences by race, gender, and class?

Armed Forces and Society

Volumn 32, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 123-138

  Leal, David L ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

Author keywords

Hispanics; Latinos; Military opinion; Military recruitment; Military spending

Indexed keywords

EID: 33644968574     PISSN: 0095327X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0095327X05278168     Document Type: Article

References (55)

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4. Although see Donald Kinder and Lynn Sanders, Divided by Color: Racial Politics and the Democratic Ideal (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). and Rodolfo de la Garza, Angelo Falcon, and F. Chris Garcia, "Will the Real Americans Please Stand Up: Anglo and Mexican-American Support of Core American Political Values," American Journal of Political Science 40, no. 2 (May 1996): 335-51.
5. Carl Allsup, The American G.I. Forum: Origins and Evolution (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982). 16-16. He noted that the military did not officially count the number of Latino soldiers, as for many years the military coded them as "white." This figure represents the number of Spanish-surnamed people who served in the armed forces during World War II. Gómez-Quiñones estimated the number at four hundred thousand. Juan Gómez-Quiñones, Chicano Politics: Reality and Promise, 1940-1990 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1990), 34.
6. Miguel David Tirado, "Mexican American Community Political Organization: The Key to Chicano Political Power," Aztlán 1, no. 1 (Spring 1970). 53-78 ; and Mario T. García, "Americans All: The Mexican American Generation and the Politics of Wartime Los Angeles, 1941-45," in The Mexican American Experience: An Interdisciplinary Anthology, ed. Rodolfo de la Garza, Frank Bean, Charles Bonjean, Ricardo Romo, and Rodolfo Alvarez (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985), 201-12.
7. Raul Morin, Among the Valiant: Mexican-Americans in WWII and Korea (Alhambra, CA: Borden, 1966). 277-277.
8. Ralph Guzmán, The Political Socialization of the Mexican American People (New York: Arno, 1976). 96-96.
9. Ellen Jones, Red Army and Society ( Boston: Allen and Unwin, 1985 ).
10. Guzmán, Political Socialization, 97-97.
11. Isabel Gonzalez, Step-Children of a Nation: The Status of Mexican-Americans (New York: American Committee for the Protection of ForeignBorn, 1947). 4-4. She furtherconnectedLatinoloyaltyto America with military service by noting that "in the first World War, New Mexico had more volunteers per capita than any other state in the Union. As a matter of fact, New Mexico, as well as Mexican centers all over the South-west, hadso many volunteers,therewere notenoughable-bodiedmenleft to fill the draft quotas" (pp.3-4).
12. Maggi Morehouse, Fighting in the Jim Crow Army: Black Men and Women Remember World War II (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000). Eric Purdon, Black Company: The Story of Subchaser 1264 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1972); Brenda Moore, To Serve My Country, To Serve My Race: The Story of the Only African-American WACs Stationed Overseas during World War II (New York: New York University Press, 1996);and Sherie Mershon and Steven Schlossman, Foxholes and Color Lines (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).
13. Charles C. Moskos and John S. Butler, All that We Can Be: Black Leadership and Racial Integration the Army Way (New York: Basic Books, 1996). 31-31, 47-47.
14. William Brink and Louis Harris, Black andWhite: A Studyof U.S. Racial Attitudes Today ( New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967 ).
15. Thomas E. Ricks, "The Military: The Great Society in Camouflage," Atlantic Monthly, December 1996, 24-38, 24-24.
16. Harley Browning, Sally Lopreato, and Dudley Poston, "Income and Veterans Status: Variations across Mexican Americans, Blacks, and Anglos," American Sociological Review 38, no. 2 (June 1973). 74-85 ; Sally Lopreato and Dudley Poston, "Differences in Earnings and Earnings Ability between Black Veterans and Nonveterans in the United States," Social Science Quarterly 57, no. 4 (March 1977): 750-66; Melanie Martindale and Dudley Poston Jr., "Variations in the Veteran/Nonveteran Earnings Patterns among World War II, Korea, and Vietnam War Cohorts," Armed Forces & Society 5, no. 2 (Winter 1979): 219-43; and Yu Xie, "The Socioeconomic Status of Young Male Veterans, 1964-1984," Social Science Quarterly 73, no. 2 (June 1992): 379-400.
17. Browning et al., "Income and Veterans Status," 74.
18. While some literature suggests that veterans benefit economically and educationally from service, this may not apply to those who served during the Vietnam War. Roger Little and J. Eric Fredland, "Veteran Status, Earnings, and Race," Armed Forces & Society 5, no. 2 (Winter 1979). 244-260 ; Dennis De Tray, "Veteran Status as a Screening Device," American Economic Review 72, no. 1 (March 1982): 133-42; Wayne Villemez and John Kasarda, "Veteran Status and Socioeconomic Attainment," Armed Forces & Society 2, no. 2 (June 1976): 407-20; and Jere Cohen, David Segal, and Lloyd Temme, "The Impact of Education on Vietnam-eraVeteran's OccupationalAttainment," SocialScienceQuarterly 73,no.2 (June1992):397-409.
19. John Sibley Butler and Margaret Anne Johnson, "Attitudes of Americans towards Issues of Military Service," Journal of Political and Military Sociology 19, no. 2 (Winter 1991). 273-291.
20. Rodolfo de la Garza, Louis DeSipio, F. Chris Garcia, John Garcia, and Angelo Falcon, Latino Voices (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1992).
21. Christian Appy, Working-class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993). 19-19.
22. Abraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality ( New York: Harper & Row, 1954 ).
23. Ted Goertzel, "Public Opinion Concerning Military Spending in the United States: 1937-1985," Journal of Political and Military Sociology 15, no. 1 (Spring 1987). 61-72 ; and Butler and Johnson, "Attitudes of Americans."
24. Goertzel, "Public Opinion"; Louis Kriesberg, Harry Murray, and Ross Klein, "Elites and Increased Public Support for U.S. Military Spending," Journal of Political and Military Sociology 10, no. 2 (Fall 1982). 275-297 ; and Larry Bartels, "The American Public's Defense Spending Preferences in the Post-Cold War Era," Public Opinion Quarterly 58, no. 4 (Winter 1994): 479-508.
25. Butler and Johnson, "Attitudes of Americans."
26. Patricia Shields, "The Burden of the Draft: The Vietnam Years," Journal of Political and Military Sociology 9, no. 2 (Fall 1981). 215-228 ; and Patricia Shields, "Enlistment during the Vietnam Era and the 'Representation' Issue of the All-Volunteer Force," Armed Forces & Society 7, no. 1 (Fall 1980): 133-51.
27. David Segal and Ronald Tiggle, "Attitudes of Citizen-Soldiers toward Military Missions in the Post-Cold War World," Armed Forces & Society 23, no. 3 (Spring 1997). 373-390 ; Laura Miller, "Do Soldiers Hate Peacekeeping? The Case of Preventive Diplomacy Operations in Macedonia," Armed Forces & Society 23, no. 3 (Spring 1997): 415-50; Ronald Halverson and Paul Bliese, "Determinants of Soldier Support for Operation Uphold Democracy," Armed Forces & Society 23, no. 1 (Fall 1996): 81-96; and Brenda Moore and Schuyler Webb, "Perceptions of Equal Opportunity among Women and Minority Army Personnel," Sociological Inquiry 70, no. 2 (Spring 2000): 215-39.
28. Allan Mazur, "Was Vietnam a Class War?" Armed Forces & Society 21, no. 3 (Spring 1995). 455-459 ; and Thomas Wilson, "Vietnam-era Military Service: A Test of the Class-bias Thesis," Armed Forces & Society 21, no. 3 (Spring 1995): 461-71.
29. Butler and Johnson, "Attitudes of Americans"; Christopher G. Ellison, "Military Background, Racial Orientations, and Political Participation amongBlack Adult Males," Social Science Quarterly 73, no. 2 (June 1992). 361-378 ; George Lawrence and Thomas Kane, "Military Service and Racial Attitudes of White Veterans," Armed Forces & Society 22, no. 2 (Winter 1996): 235-55; and David Leal, "It's Not Just a Job:MilitaryServiceandLatinoPolitical Participation," PoliticalBehavior 21,no.2 (June1999):153-74.
30. Frank Newport and Joseph Carroll, "Poll Analysis: Despite Sharp Increase in Bush Approval since 9/ 11, Race Gap Persists," Gallup News Service, January 8, 2002, http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr020108.asp.
31. It is also important to keep in mind that while attitudes often dramatically change during such times, they eventually return to precrisis status. Opinion differences by subgroups also exhibit a similar pattern of reversion. Althoughthe senior Bush received African American approval ratings in the 70 percent range during the Persian Gulf War, in the following year, he received only 10 percent of the African American vote. In addition, there is currently a large black-white opinion gap on whether this war was worth fighting. According to a recent Gallup report, "The current results about whether it was worthwhile to fight the war show major differences between black and white Americans, and between men and women. While whites say the war was worthwhile by a margin of 67% to 27%, blacks take the opposite point of view by 51% to 37%. Indeed,on virtuallyall questions about U.S. participationin the Persian Gulf War (as with most military conflicts) asked by Gallup over the years, the views of blacks and whites reflect deep differences - with blacks generally much more opposed than whites. By a two-to-one margin, 61% to 33%, blacks today oppose sending American troops to remove Saddam Hussein from power, while whites express support by 56% to 38%. During the Persian Gulf War, similar divisions were found." David Moore, "Poll Analysis: Americans Believe U.S. Participationin GulfWar a DecadeAgoWorthwhile," GallupNews Service, February26,2001, http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr010226.asp.
32. There are almost eight hundred Mexican Americans, three hundred Puerto Ricans, three hundred Cuban Americans, and six hundred Central and South Americans in the analysis. The data are weighted using the measure provided by the National Survey on Latinos in America.
33. Enrique Trueba, Latinos Unidos: From Cultural Diversity to the Politics of Solidarity (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999). 33-33.
34. Kevin Hill and Dario Moreno, "Second-Generation Cubans," Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 18, no. 2 (May 1996). 175-193.
35. "Now I'm going to read you the names of some institutions in American society. Please tell me if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of each one....Is that veryfavorable/unfavorableorsomewhat?"
36. Goertzel, "Public Opinion"; Butler and Johnson, "Attitudes of Americans"; Kriesberg and Klein, "Elites and Increased Public Support"; and Andre Modigliani, "Hawks and Doves, Isolationism and Political Distrust: An Analysis of Public Opinion on Military Policy," American Political Science Review 66, no. 3 (September 1972). 960-978.
37. Morris Janowitz, "Basic Education and Youth Socialization in the Armed Forces," in Handbook of Military Institutions, ed. Roger W. Little (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1971). 167-210.
38. Kay Lehman Schlozman and Sidney Verba, Injury to Insult: Unemployment, Class, and Response ( Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979 ).
39. Tom Smith, "The Polls: Gender and Attitudes toward Violence," Public Opinion Quarterly 48, no. 1 (Spring 1984). 384-396 ; Keith Poole and L. Harmon Zeigler, Women, Public Opinion, and Politics: The Changing Political Attitudes of American Women (New York: Longman, 1985). In general, women are often considered to be more liberal than men. They express more-liberal opinions on social welfare programs and general ideology but are also more conservative than men on traditional-values issues, such as school prayer, sex education, drug use, alcohol laws, and pornography (Shapiro and Mahajan). While women of all races have served in the American armed forces for some time (B. Moore), there are proportionately fewer female than male veterans, although it is unclear whether military service leads to greater support of the military. Robert Shapiro and Harpreet Mahajan, "Gender Differences in Policy Preferences: A Summary of Trends from the 1960s to the 1980s," Public Opinion Quarterly 50, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 42-61; Goertzel, "Public Opinion"; and B. Moore, To Serve.
40. Sidney Verba, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Henry Brady, Voice and Equality ( Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995 ).
41. Butler and Johnson, "Attitudes of Americans"; Bernard Cohen, "The Military Policy Public," Public Opinion Quarterly 30, no. 2 (Summer 1966). 200-211 ; and Lisa Montoya, "Latino Gender Differences in Public Opinion: Results from the Latino National Political Survey," Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 18, no. 2 (May 1996): 255-76.
42. Butler and Johnson, "Attitudes of Americans";
43. Kriesberg and Klein, "Elites and Increased Public Support";
44. Goertzel, "Public Opinion";
45. Cohen, "Military Policy Public";
46. and Modigliani, "Hawks and Doves," 964.
47. Bartels, "American Public's Defense Spending";
48. Goertzel, "Public Opinion";
49. and Kriesberg and Klein, "Elites and Increased Public Support."
50. Goertzel, "Public Opinion"
51. and Butler and Johnson, "Attitudes of Americans."
52. Maslow, Motivation and Personality. One issue is whether Latinos express relatively low support for military spending because they see a tradeoff between guns and butter or because of partisan affiliations. As there is no question directly testing a guns-versus-butter orientation in the survey, one strategy is to create a separate regression with only Latino respondents that tests support for military spending. We can include variables for party affiliation and for whether Washington or the individual should be responsible for the standard of living of Americans (which is the closest question in the survey on support for federal social programs). Both variables are statistically significant, thereby suggesting that both factors are associated with Latino attitudes toward military spending.
53. Women may also be less likely to recommend enlistment, although the coefficient is just below conventional levels of statistical significance (.101).
54. It is not clear from the survey materials why this was done.
55. The aggregate Latino variable is no longer significant in the spending model; the Puerto Rican and the Central and South American measures are no longer significant in the spending model; the Central and South American variable is now significant in the enlistment model; and the African American variable is now significant in the spending model.