Doing the Right Thing
Public confidence in the military tops the polls.
By Col. Warren S. Lacy, USA-Ret.

Their missions range from saving lives to cleaning up the environment, protecting our living marine resources, breaking ice in the Antarctic, and providing national security. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, their core duties haven’t changed, but operations tempo is up and priorities have shifted. “It’s a watershed time in our service’s history,” says Adm. Thomas H. Collins, Coast Guard commandant. 

In our story “Beyond the Waterfront” (page 50), Collins introduces us to today’s Coast Guard. This armed service plays a key role in homeland defense and, on March 1, transferred from the Department of Transportation to the new Department of Homeland Security. In addition to their home-based missions, Coast Guard units deployed overseas for Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

The Coast Guard’s story is similar to that of every other uniformed service. When the nation calls, dedicated men and women—active duty, National Guard, and Reserve—respond. But do everyday citizens, particularly the younger generation, appreciate and understand the military and its leaders? For answers, we looked at recent surveys.

For more than 36 years, The Harris Poll has measured levels of public confidence in leaders of 14 institutions. Those levels have gone up and down over the years, but since 1990 military leaders have enjoyed a higher level of confidence than those of any other institution. The 2002 poll shows that 62 percent of the public say they have a great deal of confidence in military leaders. This is down from 71 percent for 2001 (which was influenced by Sept. 11), but it remains far ahead of other institutions at the top of the list. Runners-up are the White House (40 percent), the U.S. Supreme Court (34 percent), and major educational institutions (31 percent). 

At the bottom of the list—those who have the lowest levels of public confidence—are leaders of law firms and Wall Street (with 12 percent each), and major companies (13 percent). Leaders of Congress have a 20 percent confidence rating.

Another measure of confidence in today’s military forces is an April 2003 survey by the Harvard Institute of Politics. Based on interviews with 1,200 college undergraduates, pollsters found that 74 percent said they trusted the military “to do the right thing” either “all of the time” or “most of the time.” By contrast, a 1975 Harris Poll showed only 20 percent of people ages 18 to 29 said they had a great deal of confidence in those who ran the military. 

If you’d like to see the full survey results go to www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll and www.iop.harvard.edu/2003toplines.pdf. But these polls only confirm what we’ve always known. On this Independence Day, let’s be thankful we can trust our military leaders to do the right thing!