Throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, Republicans and their media enablers would sadly shake their heads when the topic of national security would come up. What happened to the Democratic Party of President John F. Kennedy? they would ask, referring to the former president’s belief in a very robust military. But at the root of this cheap political attack was a truth: Democrats were increasingly hostile to our military and a strong national defense.
Republicans were happy to fill that gap. And politically, it served them well. Gallup regularly polls the question “Do you, yourself, feel that our national defense is stronger now than it needs to be, not strong enough or about right at the present time?” Gallup started asking the question in 1984, and “stronger than it needs to be” has never polled higher than 16%.
Furthermore, when asked how much confidence respondents had in the military, “very little”—the default activist liberal position—polled in the single digits, with “a great deal” and “quite a lot” enjoying clear majority support.
However, perhaps for the first time on her party’s ticket since JFK, Vice President Kamala Harris is reclaiming national security as a Democratic strength.
