A new survey shows presidential candidate Gary Johnson beating out both Clinton and Trump in the polls among military members, The Hill reports.
The unscientific poll was conducted by Doctrine Man via Google Forms and surveyed over 3,500 active duty troops, military reserve members, retired and former members and military family members.
Results placed the libertarian leader ahead of the other two candidates, amassing 38.7 percent of the active duty vote. Trump received 30.9 percent while Clinton came in third with 14.1 percent.
The poll coincides with Wednesday night’s drama at the Republican Nation Convention when Ted Cruz refused to endorse Trump. Others, like Gov. Scott Walker, have argued, “a vote for anyone other than Trump is a vote for Clinton.”
Johnson commented on the speech, claiming that by telling the public to “vote your conscience,” Cruz was essentially saying, “vote for Gary Johnson.”
Once broken down into services, current, reserve and former members of the Marine Corps favored Johnson the most at 44.1 percent, to Trump with 27.1 and Clinton at 12.7. Members of the Air Force also strongly preferred Johnson, selecting him at 39 percent, Trump at 29.9 percent and Clinton in third with 12.9 percent.
The Army favored Johnson at 35.4 percent to Trump at 31.4 percent and Clinton at 15.3 percent.
The Navy was the only service branch where Johnson preformed worse than Trump, who came in first at 32.4 percent. Johnson came in second with 31.7 percent while Clinton took 22.9 percent.
Trump was also favored more highly than Clinton and Johnson among retired military members who had served for 20+ years. When retired members who had served for less than 20 years were included in the calculations, Johnson came in first.
On the flip side, family members of active duty troops preferred Clinton at 29.4 percent, to Trump at 27.5 percent and Johnson at 24.5 percent.
Johnson’s popularity among the military may underscore some of the challenges facing both the Trump and Clinton campaigns, as Trump has floundered with statements surrounding the Veterans Administration and Clinton still faces extreme backlash for the response to the Benghazi terror attacks.
Marie Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, top military officer and chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, has asked armed forces members to avoid politicizing the military and continue to instill impartial public trust in the middle of the 2016 election.
“What we must collectively guard against is allowing our institution to become politicized, or even perceived as being politicized, by how we conduct ourselves during engagements with the media, the public, or in open or social forums,” he wrote in this month’s issue of Joint Forces Quarterly.