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Survey highlights concerns of military voters

Military spending and retirement benefits seen as crucial

The most important issue to military voters in 2016 is future defense spending, a recent survey found. U.S. Army photo

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A recent survey by the First Command Financial Behaviors Index revealed a significant difference between civilian and military voters when it comes to the most critical issues for the upcoming 2016 Presidential election. Of highest importance to voting members of the military were: 1) future defense spending, 2) the threat of an upcoming sequestration, and 3) the preservation of military retirement benefits.

The most important issue, according to the survey, was the matter of future defense spending, with 84% of respondents marking that as either "extremely important" or "very important."  By contrast, only 55% of the civilian population ranked military spending as highly.

The second most critical issue for middle-class members of the Armed Forces was the threat of sequestration followed closely by concerns over the new military retirement plan. Seventy-eight percent of registered military voters marked these as either "extremely" or "very" important, compared to less than 50% of registered middle-class civilian voters. Interestingly, concerns over sequestration topped the list of concerns for military voters in the 2012 election as well.

"The notable gaps between military and civilian voters on these important national issues underscore the continuing financial uncertainty and concern being experienced by America's career servicemember families," said Scott Spiker, CEO of First Command. "Defense spending, sequestration and the new military retirement are uniquely personal issues for those who have made the military their career. Defense cuts inflame concerns because they impact military pay and benefits. Sequestration adds fuel to that fire by intensifying feelings of uncertainty about the future. And the new military retirement system is a critical concern for many of today's career servicemembers, who will have to decide in 2018 between sticking with the current guarantees of the traditional retirement pension or opting in to the new system that promises cash contributions but at the cost of a twenty percent cut in their lifetime pension."

According to the press release issued by First Command, seven out of 10 "career military families feel anxious about sequestration and only half believe Congress will void sequestration before the full return of these automatic budget cuts in 2018."

Other important money-related issues that showed a much smaller gap between military and civilian voters were concerns over the future of social security (85% of military voters and 72% of civilian voters marked this as either "extremely" or "very" important), the rapidly increasing cost of healthcare (84% of military compared to 80% of civilians), and the need for creation of more private sector jobs (73% versus 63%).

To get these findings, First Command surveyed a cross-section of middle-class active-duty servicemembers, with "middle-class" defined as senior NCOs and commissioned officers with pay grades above E5 and a combined household income of $50,000 or more. According to their press release, the purpose of the study was to survey "consumers on their Presidential voting intentions as part of its ongoing research into how defense downsizing and changes to military pay and benefits are affecting the financial lives of middle-class military families."

According to Spiker, "These election survey findings suggest that the majority of middle-income servicemembers expect to cast their votes for the Presidential candidate who they feel best understands and is most committed to resolving significant issues that directly affect their long-term financial security."

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