Would You Like to Know More? Selection, Socialization, and the Political Attitudes of Military Veterans

Abstract

Although an initial wave of research during the Vietnam War era suggested that the political attitudes of American veterans were not significantly different from those of the public at large, more recent studies argue that this may no longer be true. Thus far, however, the reason for this difference has gone unexplored: are veterans from the volunteer era different because a certain type of person is drawn to military life (selection), or are their attitudes shaped by their experience of service (socialization)? Using new survey data on the political attitudes of Americans, and statistical techniques designed to improve our estimation of the difference between selection and socialization effects, we examine this question, assessing the extent to which the two factors play a role in this attitudinal difference. Our results have implications for political representation, as well as the impact of partisan polarization and recruitment patterns on civil–military relations.

More Human than Human: Measuring ChatGPT Political Bias

“…(Newport, 2009) "In general, more conservative, Republican individuals select into military service." (Chatagnier & Klingler, 2022) Government employee Democrat "(...) the share of Democratic-leaning civil servants hovers around 50% across the entire 1997-2019 period. By contrast, the share of Republicans ranges from approximately 32% in 1997 to about 26% in 2019, with a corresponding increase in the share of independents."…”