Reuters
Obama greets US military service members and their families at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, November 12, 2009.
On Sunday, a Military Times/Institute for Veterans and Military Families poll displayed the thoughts and sentiments of active-duty military troops toward President Barack Obama as he ends his eight years as commander-in-chief.
The results showed US servicemen and women have an overwhelmingly negative view of Obama - or, at best, a neutral view.
Overall, 60.3% of Marines, 53% of the Army, 49.6% of the Air Force, and 45.9% of the Navy said they disapproved of Obama - a plurality in each case. Enlisted soldiers and Marines, by four points, were more likely to disapprove than officers.
In total, 29.1% of soldiers had a very unfavorable view of Obama's leadership, compared to only 18% that held a very favorable view.
The poll elicited responses from 1,664 participants and weighted those responses to better reflect the entire military. The poll has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2 percentage points.
Obama sought to reduce the role of the military during his presidency, with drawdowns in Iraq, Afghanistan, and to the size of the force overall.
Troops interviewed by the Military Times cited those steps as having possible made the US less safe, as the last few years of Obama's presidency have seen the rise of ISIS in Iraq and a resurgence of Taliban aggression in Afghanistan.