Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden drew laughter when he bragged to a Pittsburgh television station that he outpolled Republican rival President Donald Trump among active-duty military members.
Biden gave a speech and then sat for an interview with local NBC network affiliate WPXI on Monday. After the brief interview, the former vice president boasted about a Military Times poll that showed him leading Republican rival President Donald Trump by 3.9%.
"Did you see the recent poll out? 49% of active duty military don't trust the president? Not for him?" Biden asked.
Then, in an exaggerated whisper, he said, "They're for me," which received laughter.
Biden led the poll Trump 41.3% to 37.4% with 12.8% opting for a third-party candidate. Nine percent were planning on not voting. The poll was conducted between July 27 and Aug. 10 among 1,018 active-duty personnel in conjunction with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University in New York.
Biden graduated from Syracuse Law.
About 40% of those surveyed identified as Republican or Libertarian, 16% as Democrats and 44% as independent or another party.
The poll had a margin of error of 2%. There were approximately 1.3 million active-duty U.S. military members as of July.
The survey also showed 49.9% of service members had an unfavorable opinion of Trump, while 38% viewed him favorably. The unfavorable number matched a previous Military Times poll from December while the favorable was down slightly from 42%.
Trump had a 46% favorability rating at the start of his presidency in 2016, the publication said.
By contrast, Trump's immediate predecessor, Barack Obama, was viewed favorably by 36% of military members when he left office in January 2017, and 52% had an unfavorable opinion.
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