Only 49 percent of Americans consider the U.S. military to be the strongest in the world, down from 59 percent last year and the first time ever that less than half of the populace has held such a belief, according to a new Gallup poll.
The U.S. spends more on its military than the next seven countries combined ($601 billion in 2015), has far more military bases around the world than any other country (about 800), and has a higher caliber of technology than any other nation, notes Vox.
Despite this, only 49 percent of respondents told Gallup that they believe the U.S. has the No. 1 military in the world. Another 49 percent said America is not the top fighting force, a 23-year high and up from 38 percent who said the same in 2015.
"The 10-point drop in the percentage of Americans who believe the U.S. is the No. 1 military power in the world may reflect worries about international terrorism, which the public views as the most critical international threat the nation faces," Gallup said. "It may also reflect the discussion of the military and defense in the current presidential election campaign. The uptick in Americans' view that the nation is spending too little on its military may partly reflect these two dynamics, but also follows the classic ebb and flow of attitudes about military spending in response to ups and downs in the nation's actual spending."
Another question asked how important it is for the U.S. military to be the strongest in the world, and 67 percent said it is indeed important, a small decline from the 68 percent who said the same in 2015.
For the first time since February 2001, a plurality of those polled - 37 percent - said the government spends too little on "national defense and military purposes," while 32 percent said the government spends too much and 27 percent said spending is about right.
Among Republicans, 66 percent thought the U.S. should spend more on military, while just 20 percent of Democrats and 27 percent of independents said the same. Forty-five percent of Democrats, 39 percent of independents and 9 percent of Republicans said the government spends too much on the military.
The survey was conducted among a random sample of 1,021 adults from Feb. 3-7 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
